The Sound of Music in the Wind
by hippielicious
Summary: Gaara had another caretaker as a child who he was fond of but she went missing one day on a mission. Kankuro and Temari see her again during the chunin exams in Konoha but there's only one problem...she doesn't remember any of her time in Suna.
1. Chapter 1

I stared at the windy city of Sunagakure - my birth place and home. Continuing on to the Kazekage's office I indulged in some of the memories of my childhood I always blocked out. The murder of my parents and 80% of my clan along with them meant that anyone in my clan - the Tsunagi who helped found Suna - kept their surname to themselves.

"You contacted me Kazekage-sama?" While I hated to admit it, there was something in the look of this man that unnerved me.

"Yes, my five-year-old son, Gaara, recently is in need of a caretaker. I could think of no finer clan to keep him in control."

"Gaara of the sand. I've heard of him."

"No physical attacks work on him, so genjutsu is the best option. All I expect you to do is keep him under control and keep him from killing anyone."

"How much does it pay."

"Handsomely. But I'll need your age and name. Currently, all I know is that you're from the Tsunagi clan." That didn't surprise me. We had very defining features. All of us were short and thin with pale skin and golden eyes. I was no exception, naturally.

"My first name is Ai and I'm 18."

"Your clan uses genjutsu, but have you activated your clan's other special…talents?"

"No."

"I see you're a ninja, so what is your rank?"

No hiding my ninja headband so I just told him the truth. Lying to the Kazekage would mean bad news. "I'm a jonin."

"At such a young age that is quite amazing. At what age did you graduate?"

"I was six when I became genin, nine when I became chunin, and 13 when I became jonin."

"Do you know the whereabouts of any of you other clan members."

"No. They're all in hiding, no doubt. We were nearly wiped out because of the bounty on all of our heads and still on our heads."

"Hmm." He smirked. "Well there's one thing that still needs to be done before you're employed. We'd like to run some tests."

"No!" His guards came up and grabbed me before I could activate any jutsu and they were trying to sedate me.

But before anyone could do anything more, a thin layer of sand protected me. I turned to see a little boy had entered the room. "What are you doing father?"

"Her clan holds some secrets that need to be revealed." The Kazekage had misunderstood.

"I know nothing! My parents died when I was eight and our clans secrets aren't told to members until they are 16. I can't help you."

"Fine. You are free to go with my son." He seemed reluctant to believe me, but he seemed almost scared of his son.

That poor little boy didn't understand what was going on. "What are you talking about?"

I sighed. "I'm your new caretaker." Great. So now the once prestigious and esteemed Tsunagi clan had been demoted to baby sitter. Lovely. The little tanuki glared at me then and reluctantly walked out with me.

* * *

"I don't need a baby sitter," Gaara growled.

"Too bad, my little tanuki because we're stuck like this. I need a job and I was the only one in my clan your father could contact."

The little kid's mood got fouler and fouler until I felt my lower leg get sliced by something. Sand. "No more of that, my little tanuki." I took out one of the few weapons I carried: a violin. Within a few notes I felt my pupil expand so much that my entire eye turned black, and little Gaara was under my control. The sand stopped and after the song was over, I deactivated the jutsu. "I don't take back talk, cuss words, or any other kind of crap. You may have ultimate defense against physical moves, but you can't fight the music."

He behaved well enough until the end of the day but I couldn't help but wonder what I had gotten myself into.

* * *

Over the next couple weeks we got into a cycle. Gaara would misbehave and I would give him a punishment based on what he had done wrong. Then, Gaara would start mischief with his sand and I would stop him with my genjutsu. It was just a job.

Until, that is, one of the villagers stepped across the line.

I needed to do some shopping that day and because I couldn't leave Gaara completely alone, he came along with me. I looked at him. "I'll be over there looking at some shoes. Stay here and I'll be back in a few minutes. After I'm done we'll go have lunch, okay?" He nodded in his usual morose way.

Suddenly I heard a commotion outside. When I rushed over to see what was going on, Gaara was being harassed by one of the villagers.

"You're scum. You're unnatural. You shouldn't even exist. Your own mother died because of you and I don't think you even care." The old man leered at Gaara as he swore and spat at the child in my care. Oh hell no!

That old geezer didn't see me coming. WHAM! He was lying on the ground bleeding on the head from the kick I had landed. "Now listen up and listen good, assholes. The next person who does anything, who even so much as looks at Gaara funny, will answer to me and end up in the hospital. I don't take back talk, cuss words, or any kind of crap. If Gaara has done something wrong then _I _will be the one doing the punishing, and not anyone else." My golden eyes unsettle them as they remembered the power my clan held. Sometimes our genjutsu could get just plain nasty and we were on equal standing with the Uchihas when it came right down to it.

With that, I picked up my charge and stormed off. I set him down next to me as I purchased the pair of shoes I had been meaning to buy. As I did this, Gaara clung to the long tunic that went to my knees.

He still looked shaken after that so I said, "Come on, my little tanuki, let's get some ice cream."

As we licked our frozen desserts, Gaara asked me, "Ai, do you hate me?"

" 'Course not. Why would I hate you?"

"I cause trouble for you and you have to keep me from doing bad things."

"All kids are like that Gaara. The only difference between you and others is the fact that you have a bunch of sand that follows you around that you can't completely control."

"You always call me a tanuki…"

"Hun, it's an endearment. Tanuki are adorable creatures. What can I say, you've grown on me. Anyone messes with you and I'll kick their ass." I gave him a huge smile and he returned it.

* * *

"My son's overall behavior has improved since he has come into your care. I'm impressed."

"He's a good kid, but no one taught him manners."

"I intend to send you on missions soon, but you will remain Gaara's caretaker."

"I look forward to continuing to care for him."


	2. Chapter 2

I was training one morning in one of the practice fields when a very forlorn looking Gaara walked up to me. "What's wrong my little tanuki?" I asked.

"Why didn't you come?"

"Huh? Isn't today my day off?" The little boy shook his head. "Oh. Sorry, I guess I've been a little distracted lately. Just give me a minute, I'm almost done and then later we can go to the park." He nodded his head with excitement.

I looked at the men in front of me as they shook with fear at the black eyes staring at them. I activated my jutsu and they began writhing on the ground in agony. I wanted to continue because I had to admit I got a sick kind of joy from their pain but I decided to release them with a chord from my violin.

As we walked in the park, Gaara would stare in wonder at the desert animals. "What's that?" he asked, staring at a very ugly lizard, and just about to poke it.

Sprinting over, I swept him away from the poisonous lizard. "Gaara, that would be an extremely poisonous lizard, so I suggest you don't poke it." While I hated to admit it, I had become very attached to Gaara of the Sand. His behavior had indeed improved and he seemed attached to me as well.

We continued walking and I pretty much just watched the birds, as there wasn't much other wildlife in this part of the desert."Ai?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any wounds?"

"Wounds? No, I haven't been on any missions lately so I don't have any wounds. But, your father is going to be sending me on one very soon. Within a couple days, most likely." I wondered why Gaara would ask me about wounds but he quickly explained what he meant.

"Right here," he said, putting his hand over his heart. "Someone once told me that wounds of the heart take a long time to heal and sometimes never do."

I stared at two birds flying in the opposite direction of Suna and sighed. "Yes. I have a lot of wounds to the heart."

"Love is supposed to make it better, right?" Love. Was that why he had that strange symbol on his forehead? It didn't look like an ordinary tattoo.

"Yes. Love does help, but see the thing with wounds of the heart is, you have to want them to heal. And it makes it even harder when there are multiple wounds. You don't know which one to focus on first. That, and my wounds have been deeply ingrained in me for a long time." Ten years to be exact. An entire decade.

"Where did you get your wounds?"

"Did your father tell you that if a member of my clan is captured and killed that you can turn them in for money?" He shook his head side to side. "Well there is a bounty on us. What's even worse is that one Tsunagi would even turn another one in and betray them in the process. Well, my parents were murdered in front of me for that bounty, and it was someone I was related to who turned them in. I was emotionally scarred but luckily there were some family friends who took care of me until I could take care of myself. During this time, I was treated similarly to you, Gaara. People would glare at me as a walked past them in the streets. They would judge me based on my eyes. The reason there's a bounty on my clan is because people thought it was unfair, I guess that we would be born with the genjutsu abilities we had." That and our clan's _other_ special jutsu was much coveted by others.

"Will your wounds ever heal?"

I smiled. "I think they will because I've recently found a secret medicine for them."

He got really excited. "Really?"

"Yes. Ever since I've been around you, Gaara I've felt my wounds slowly begin to heal." I knelt down to eye level with him and ruffled his hair. "It feels good to be around you, my little tanuki. You're my own special medicine for my wounds of the heart."

* * *

Later, at Gaara's house, I was fixing him lunch when I felt him tug on my shirt. "Ai? Can I ask another question?"

"Sure."

"Father said that you clan has other abilities besides genjutsu…what are they?"

"You're a smart kid, Gaara." I paused, and decided that I would tell him. If there was one person in the world that I could trust, it was Gaara. "My clan has discovered the secret to immortality." I paused to see his reaction. His face stayed pretty straight, so I continued. "Or, at least, some form of it. You see, after the jutsu is performed, they may not age, but they can still be killed."

"So, does that mean you're immortal?"

"No, no, no," I laughed. "You see, I was eight when my parents died and the jutsu is taught to the members of my clan when we turn 16. I never learned the jutsu. And, even if we learn the jutsu, some people choose not to use it."

"Why wouldn't someone want immortality?"

"Forever's a long time, kid, and people just get sick of life at some point. People who choose immortality see friends and family die and eventually choose to die as well. Anyway, that's the larger reason why the citizens of Sunagakure wanted my clan wiped out. But, you see, others wanted to experiment to see if could be used on them, but the jutsu only works on members of my clan."

"Oh." His head was obviously spinning with all this new information.

"Don't worry if you don't completely understand it yet, kid." By now I had finished making his lunch and he sat down happily to eat it.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Gaara, but I have to go on this mission. Don't worry, I'll bring you back a souvenir, and I'll only be gone a few days." I ruffled his hair and tried to cheer him up, as he clung to me. "It's only B-rank, so it'll be really easy for me." Smiling reassuredly, I gently pulled his arms off me as I headed out to the hidden grass village to get some important documents from them.

Running through the desert was one of my least favorite things to do; the dry air felt thin and made it difficult to breathe. Plus, the sun beat down on a person and instantly dried their skin, their eyes, and drenched them in sweat.

And, it was even worse for me. My clan was known for one other thing aside from our strong genjutsu and our immortality: our weak taijutsu. We were all thin and lacked a lot of muscle. When we trained, we focused on our minds and music, while almost completely ignoring the physical aspect of being a shinobi warrior.

As I continued on through the sand dunes, I noticed some odd cloaked figures. Black with red clouds. They stood so that they blocked my path and I was instantly one edge. Their hats covered their headbands, but I assumed they weren't from The Land of Wind. "What business have you here?" They both towered over me, but that wouldn't give them much of an advantage, should a fight break out.

"Think she's the one?" asked the taller of the two. He carried a large sword on his back and had an unhealthy-looking pallor.

"She must be, Kisame. Look at those golden eyes." They both took off their hats to reveal their faces.

Only one word came to mind when I saw the taller one. Shark. Everything about him reminded me of the ocean predator.

The other guy was obviously Uchiha. Dark hair and the Sharingan were a dead giveaway. "Even if we can't access her immortality, we still have the Tsunigan. The Akatsuki could us another who is practiced at genjutsu."

"What the hell is the Akatsuki?" I growled.

"Our organization. I'm Hatori* and this is Kisame. We're here to collect you."

"I don't want to join your freaky-ass organization."

He gave me a twisted smile. "Oh really? You haven't even begun to access the immense power of the Tsunigan. I could teach you, or we could even capture some of your fellow clan members, if need be."

I _really_ wanted to gain better control over my eyes, but I couldn't leave Gaara. All it took was picturing my poor little tanuki all alone and I had decided I would fight these creeps to the death.

Kisame laughed. "Sorry, Hatori, she doesn't look interested."

"I won't leave Suna. Now, if you don't mind, I have business that needs taking care of before I can return home, and you're _in the way._" Before I could even touch my violin, Kisame took out his monster sword and ran it across my leg, causing me to cry out. "Swordsman of the Mist, huh?" I said through gritted teeth.

I took out my violin and began fingering notes faster than I ever had before as I began to perform a new jutsu I had been working on.

Hatori's Sharingan gleamed almost unpleasantly but nothing happened to me as Kisame stood there in a dark universe of my creation, suffering every torment I could imagine.

"It would seem that our genjutsus cancel each other out." He paused unpleasantly. "However, I know your clan's weakness. Yes, it's no secret that the Tsunagi aren't skilled at Taijutsu." And, fast as lightning, he was next to me. He grabbed me arm, knocking my violin to the ground, canceling my jutsu.

His partner, Kisame grabbed me as well - now that he was freed - and said, "If she's going to be in the Akatsuki, she's going to need to train up." He smirked. "But not before leader-sama gives up on making her clan's immortality jutsu a weapon of the Akatsuki's."

With that, I was knocked out and dragged off to the Akatsuki's hideout to become a member. At the time, my greatest sorrow was leaving Gaara behind. My second greatest sorrow was that during the tussle, my violin and headband had been left in the sand stained by my blood.

* * *

Baki had been called to the Kazekage's office. The Kazekage's piercing stare cut right through the bone as he began to talk. "Baki, Tsunagi Ai has been declared missing. We asked The Land of Grass and they said she hadn't even arrived to pick up the documents. Now, you realize that this isn't just about finding her or the documents. She is also the caretaker of my son and without her I fear that he may destroy the entire village in his rage. You need to find Tsunagi-san and bring her back, if she is still alive."

Baki nodded and set off to find the woman. She was a jonin, like him, and a few years younger. He enjoyed her company and admired her chakra control, so he was eager to get her back to the village safely.

He was apprehensive, though, because she had confided in him her concerns about her much sought after eyes a little while ago. She had thought that maybe if she went on a mission that someone who try to capture her for the Tsunigan.

* * *

The next day, as he was searching, he saw an area of sand that was stained red with blood. Looking on the site, he found a Suna headband, and a crushed violin. This did not bode well. If only the headband were found, he might assume she had gone rogue, but Ai would never abandon her precious violin. There was no other possibility. She had been kidnapped by someone.

*** Heh heh, some of you might have assumed at first that Hatori was Itachi, but he isn't. I wanted Ai to meet an Uchiha before she was dragged off to the Akatsuki, but Itachi is maybe ten right now so it couldn't be him. So, I'm just going to have Hatori take his place for now.**

**Author's Note: This chapter is long, but this is the perfect stopping place. Hope you enjoy it and I'm glad I got to include Baki very briefly. All I ask of my readers is that they give me their lovely reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

Eight years had passed since I had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki, and I had learned early on that escape was an impossibility. While I could put almost everyone under my genjutsu, Leader and Hatori had never been affected. And, after Hatori had died, Itachi had never been affected either.

So, I had to bend to their will. Meaning, lots of experimentation on me. In the past, plenty of people had tried - and failed miserably - at accessing my clans immortality jutsu. This situation was no different than those of the past and the only discrepancy was that I was now immortal. Yes. Somewhere along the way, someone had screwed up and activated my clan's special jutsu. Oh, joy. I didn't plan to live longer than the average human, and I hoped there was a way to reverse the jutsu. Immortality was something that I didn't want.

Now, I was standing outside Konoha, ready for my memory to be erased. "Sorry, Ai," laughed Kisame. "But, you're no use to us anymore so we have to leave you here. Oh well, Leader didn't think that we'd be able to use your jutsu, anyway."

"I'm not completely useless. Does my Tsunigan mean nothing?"

He laughed again. "Well, it's no more powerful than the Sharingan, so why have two people with special eyes?" There was no denying that Itachi was a bigger asset than I was. Eye wise, we were evenly matched, but, his Taijutsu and my Taijutsu were of totally different calibers.

"Are you ready?" asked Itachi.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not happy about having all my memories erased. And if you have to, why can't you just dump me in Suna? At least there I knew people." Gaara would be about 12 now, maybe 13. I wanted desperately to see him again, but that wouldn't happen if they dumped my body outside Konoha.

"So you know the plan. Itachi wipes all of your memories, and places a seal on them, then we dump your unconscious body outside Konoha to be found by whoever happens to be around." Kisame was clearly enjoying my dislike for the plan.

"I know the plan. I'm ready." I looked into Itachi's eyes and didn't fight them like I usually would. I opened myself up to them and allowed their full affect take over me. My entire life flashed before my eyes and then, darkness.

My very existence was in question now. Who was I? Why was I here? When would I wake up?

* * *

I woke with the feeling of having slept for a very long time. My muscles felt weak, my head hurt, and I had a feeling of overall grogginess. The pain in my chest was absolutely awful, and my heart was beating faster than I had ever felt it beat.

I opened my eyes. I was in a hospital, and chained to my bed. _Nice, I snorted._ Hmmm. So I was a sarcastic person. It occurred to me that I should know my name, but I didn't.

A nurse walked in with a man I recognized as the Third Hokage. Okay, that was a start. He walked over and stared me in the eye. It was hard to hold his gaze, especially when I felt like collapsing, but I managed it. "She looks awful," he announced. I was about to come up with some sarcastic comment, but decided against it, because that probably wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do. "Do you remember anything about why you were found outside Konoha unconscious?"

I paused. Why didn't I remember? It was an important reason… "No. I can't remember anything. Not even my name."

"Well, that can be remedied easily enough. I know your last name, at least. You are of the Tsunagi clan from Sunagakure. It's quite obvious from your appearance."

Tsunagi…Sunagakure… both of those did sound extremely familiar."My entire memory has been wiped, and I don't even remember why."

"That's okay, my dear, we will have some specialists examine you to see what is the problem. If your memories have merely been wiped and not sealed, then it will be a simple task to restore them." He smiled pleasantly at me.

Breathing was difficult, but I still wanted to speak again. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"About five days, from what I understand. The medic ninja who are here say that your heart stopped, and then started again. No doubt that is associated with the jutsu that erased your memory."

I nodded. "And what will I been called until I know my name again?"

"Would you be upset in just going by your last name? I think it may help your memories return if you are brought in contact with things from your past, and a fake name wouldn't help anyone."

"I don't mind."

"Okay, then. After you eat something, I shall send Yamanaka-san here to do some exploring."

* * *

Yamanaka explored my mind at its deepest and learned that my memories did, in fact, have a powerful seal on them. Fortunately, the Chunin exams were coming up within a month and that meant the Kazekage would be here. When the participants from sand left after the exams, the Hokage said there was a chance I would be returning with them. That is, if the Kazekage knew anything about me. There was no guarantee that I had even lived in Suna, because my clan had, in the past decade, moved all over the world to avoid bounty hunters.

The details of my possible return to my home, wherever it was, did little to lighten my spirits. The truth of the situation still remained: I was nobody. Your memories are your identity, and I had no identity.

A person's sense of self is one of the most important things that they can have. And while some may think that common sense dictates that a person can't take you away from you, someone had done just that in the act of wiping who I was - my memories - from the face of the planet. He had, basically, wiped _me_ from the face of the planet.

* * *

The Hokage had me escorted around the city by an ANBU. I suppose they guessed they couldn't be too careful considering the fact that they knew nothing about me. Maybe they thought that I might be a spy.

I was wandering through the streets, with my ANBU escort a few meters behind me, when I passed a store that sold music supplies. I was mesmerized. What was especially hypnotizing was the violin being displayed in the window.

I walked through the entrance and the little bell on the door rang. The shop owner look up from repairing something, acknowledging that I had entered. "How much is that violin in the window?"

He smiled and told me the price. I had been given some money when I was released from the hospital, and I would have enough for the violin.

I danced out of the shop, clutching the very precious violin case in my grip.

**Author's Note: I'd like to thank those have reviewed my story, and for those who haven't reviewed, please do! I'd love nothing more than to read some more reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

I had now reached the forest outside Konoha. I ran my fingers along the smooth surface of my newly purchased violin. The finish was absolute perfection and it was difficult to believe that humans hands had made this.

Then, with my ANBU guard still watching, I softly began to play. There was only one word to describe how it felt to play: right. My fingers danced across the fingerboard without any conscious effort or thought on my part.

While I was playing this fast-paced, bouncy tune, I began to infuse chakra into the violin and into the sound I was creating. With every slur, my genjutsu became more powerful, and I felt the pupils in my eyes expand.

Soon, animals began to gather, entranced by my music. They sat in front of me, eyes glazed over, and my enchantment only became stronger. Then, suddenly, a pack of dogs, all in some sort of uniform, joined the others.

I decided to think nothing of it at the time, until a very concerned-looking Konoha ninja came bounding up with a look of panic in his eyes. He looked at me and said, "Genjutsu…" Apparently, this answered all his questions.

Continuing my song, I looked him in the eye, revealing my pitch black eye balls. Again, he said, "Tsunagi," as if it answered whatever questions he might have.

With three complex chords, I released all the animals under my influence, including the ninja dogs. My eyes returned to their normal golden color.

"Sorry about the dogs," I said.

"No problem. That was some powerful genjutsu, there."

"Yeah. I guess." I didn't even know what shinobi rank I was, if I was even a shinobi at all.

"I'm guessing you were a sand shinobi. From what I've heard, every person who marries into or is born into the Tsunagi clan has to be a ninja."

"I don't remember."

"That must be awful."

"It is. I don't even know my name. Everyone just calls me Tsunagi-san, and I hate it." One of his dogs, a pug, was now on my lap and I was petting him.

"How about you join the chunin exams? You're obviously over genin level, so you can just become a chunin right away. That way, if the Kazekage doesn't recognize you, you can at least be a Konoha shinobi," he stated kindly.

It was a nice offer, one I probably wouldn't deny. Just because the Tsunagi clan originated in Suna, didn't mean that I was necessarily living there before I lost my memory. And I so badly wanted to be a shinobi that the city hardly mattered. "Thank you," I breathed. "I would like that."

I could detect a small smile under the mask that hid most the man's face. I smiled back.

With the violin back in its case and the strap slung over my shoulder we walked back to Konoha together - without my ANBU escort.

We had been talking peaceably about defensive tactics, until I heard two people behind up shout, "Kakashi-sensei!" I turned to see not two people, but three, walking towards us. One was a girl with ridiculously pink hair, the second one was a blonde boy who looked like a blind person had dressed him, and the other was a dark-haired boy who looked _extremely_ familiar.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted the blonde. "Are we going on a mission tomorrow? Pleeeeaaaase?"

"Naruto-baka!" Pinky hit Blondie - Naruto - over the head. "He's with his girlfriend!"

"Girlfriend? No. I only met him an hour ago when I held his pack of dogs captive under my genjutsu, he's not my boyfriend." I looked at the other boy. He simply stayed quiet, with his hands shoved in his pockets, and looked at all of us in contempt.

"This is Tsunagi-san. Somebody recently wiped her memory, so in case she can't find out where she used to live, I was suggesting she become a Konoha shinobi. All we were talking about was defensive tactics."

Pinky looked disappointed, Naruto began bugging Kakashi about a mission, and Mr. Silent stayed just that - silent. "So you're Kakashi's team?" I asked.

"Yeah!" shouted Naruto. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be the next Hokage!" Naruto had to be one of the noisiest people I had ever set eyes on. He stared at me with a look of utter concentration.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," said Pinky. "It's nice to meet you, Tsunagi-san!" I nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait! If you don't have any of your memories, then how come you know your last name?" I guess Naruto wasn't quite as stupid as he looked.

"Because she is a member of the esteemed Tsunagi clan," muttered Mr. Silent. "I'm Uchiha Sasuske."

"Ah, yes. The Uchiha clan." Sasuske and I stared at each other for a few minutes before Naruto interrupted us again.

"So what's the big deal? She's part of some clan, so what?"

Sasuske gave Naruto what could only be described as a glare. "The Tsunagi clan and the Uchiha clan were often considered to be on equally as far as kekkei genkai go. It is said that the Tsunigan and the Sharingan have similar origins. However, the Tsunigan is far more well known for its genjutsu abilities, because everyone in the clan becomes a genjutsu master. Also, those with the Tsunigan do not have the ability to see an opponent's moves before they actually make them. One similarity between our eyes is that they can both see chakra."

"Well it would seem that right now Sasuske knows more about my family than I do. But you were correct about everything about the Tsunigan. There is one thing you missed, though. The Tsunagi clan has a terrible weakness that gives the Uchiha clan a leg up." Sasuske's eyes blazed with curiosity. "But, I'm not going to be telling you anything about that." He looked angry, but I ignored him. "You look eerily familiar, though, Sasuske. Very familiar." I paused to stare. "Well, I'm off! I have a meeting with the Hokage!" I needed to discuss Kakashi's suggestion about the chunin exams!

**Author's Note: Don't worry! There will definitely be more Gaara next chapter! Please review, because next chapter: Ai and Gaara see each other again in a not-so-heartfelt meeting!**


	5. Chapter 5

I would be participating in the chunin exams. I was happy that Konoha was treating me so warmly, but it still didn't feel quite like home. If the Kazekage didn't recognize me, then I wouldn't be headed back with all the other sand shinobi. Kakashi had been nice to me, as had several other high-ranking ninja. I remembered all their faces and names: Kurenai, Asuma, Iruka, Anko, Ibiki. They welcomed me into their ranks, probably thinking that I had merely gotten the worst of a fight and had my memory wiped.

There was a problem with their theory. When I came to this village, I didn't have a scratch on me, suggesting that I hadn't struggled. That, and I tended not to lose fights. I had been in a couple of spars with the chunin and jonin of the village, and I did well, if not won, in every single one of those fights.

I had to be a ninja, that much was certain, given the law my clan had that I only recently learned. Anyone who was born into, or married into my clan had to be a shinobi. So what rank was I? Not a genin, surely, and I could easily hold my ground against jonins. Really, being in the chunin exams was more a formality than anything. I was already a ninja, just not a Konoha ninja.

I heard a commotion going on not far away, so I followed the noise to see an odd scene. Two sand shinobi were picking on Naruto, Sakura, and a bunch of little kids. Naruto was getting his butt kicked, however, I decided to give Kakashi's student the benefit of the doubt and allow him to continue fighting unless it got serious.

I saw the male sand shinobi trip Naruto with chakra strings. Chakra strings? Only those who used puppets really used chakra strings well. Even in Suna, where puppet masters originated, puppet masters were rare. I continued watching. These two had to be in the exams, otherwise, I didn't see why sand ninja should be here. And if they were in the exams, they would surely be my little serious competition. It was almost kind of unfair that I, someone who was surely at least a chunin, would be competing against genin. Oh well.

At least the girl wasn't participating. It was obvious, though, that Naruto would lose, so I stepped into the scene. "Obviously Sand Shinobi no longer have anything better to do than pick on Konoha children. The kid you're about to punch isn't even a genin yet, you ass, so put him down and pick on someone your own size." Meaning, me. Actually, I was only a little bit taller than Naruto, so I was about as tall as the blonde sand kunoichi.

The boy stared at me, dumbstruck by something, and didn't detect the rock flying towards his hand, hitting it. He dropped the kid, Konohamaru, and continued to look at me with blatant surprise. He barely noticed when Sasuske asked, "What are you guys doing in our village?"

He ignored Sasuske and turned to me. "What's your name?"

"It's Sasuske!" shrieked Sakura. Naruto pouted.

"Calm yourself, Sakura," I said. Hmmm. It seemed she didn't notice when Naruto tried to help, or when I began to help. She only noticed Sasuske, how pathetic. "It's pathetic for a kunoichi to show such transparent preference for a teammate based only on looks. From what Kakashi tells me, Naruto is also quite skilled, and Naruto didn't have the advantage of hiding in a tree. Otherwise, I'm sure our foreign friends would have noticed any attack Sasuske could have conjured up." Both Sakura and Sasuske glowered at me, but I ignored their glares.

The Sand boy, momentarily forgetting me, turned his attention towards Sasuske. "Oh, look. Another brat."

"Get lost," Sasuske said.

"Ooh! How cool!" Sakura shrieked, completely forgetting my earlier comment. What a ditz. I hung my head, pinched the top of my nose, closed my eyes, and sighed. This was why there was so few female ninjas out there. Girls like Sakura who have nothing better to do than chase after boys who clearly didn't feel the same way.

I turned my attention back to the foreigners, having been completely forgotten by them, as the boy took off his oddly shaped pack. A puppet. I was sure of it. The girl looked really nervous and I decided to step in again. "A puppet master, huh?" They looked at me in surprise again, remembering my presence. "Tell me, are you any good with that thing? There aren't many puppet masters out there, and still fewer who have actually an talent in the field." Everyone, including Sasuske, looked surprised that I knew the sand boy's weapon before he had even drawn it.

"Kankuro, don't!" someone called. I turned to see a red-headed boy with a bizarre tattoo on his forehead. "You're a disgrace to our entire village." My head hurt, and I was clutching my forehead. Kankuro. I saw a little blip of an image of a scowling little boy with brown hair.

The boy named Kankuro was immediately put on edge by the red head's comment. "Ga.. Gaara…" he stuttered. Gaara. My skull felt like it was about to split open at the name Gaara. It was so awful, I was on my knees in pain. My memory showed me a split second vision of a scrawny little boy with the same tanuki-like rings around his eyes, clutching a teddy bear.

"It annoys me that you'd lose control in a quarrel with children. Have you forgotten why we came here?"

"But Gaara, they started it! The little one slammed into me!"

"Shut up, or I'll kill you." Gaara said this so calmly it was creepy. Death threats weren't scary unless they were given by an enemy who would obviously feel no remorse for killing you.

"You're right. I was out of line." Kankuro was shivering, so it was quite apparent that Gaara meant what he said.

"We're sorry, okay Gaara?" the blonde girl apologized.

Gaara turned his attention to me. "Who's the woman?" Kankuro shrugged, however, he gave me a meaningful look that I unfortunately, didn't know the meaning of. "Sorry about my friends." He moved from the tree, next to Kankuro. When he said 'friends', though, it didn't really sound like he considered them friends. More like people he was forced to share his company with. "I know we're a little early, but we didn't come here to play around."

Kankuro looked happy that he wasn't going to be killed today. "I swear it won't happen again!"

Just as they were about to leave, Temari had to explain about the chunin exams to Kakashi's students. "Hey, you! What's your name?" Sasuske asked Gaara. Calling him a spook when Temari asked if it was her he was speaking to.

"Gaara of the Sand." He didn't look pleased at being called a spook. Who would be? I glared at Sasuske for his tactless comment, unsure of why I felt so protective of this boy. I didn't know him, did I? Maybe that was why Kankuro and the girl acted so weird around me, maybe they thought they recognized me and at this point, I was willing to do anything to know who I was. Gaara continued. "And you are?"

"Uchiha Sasuske." I didn't like the smirk that Sasuske had.

Gaara turned to me. "And you? You're obviously of the Tsunagi clan of Sunagakure."

"I don't know my name," I said weakly. "My memories were completely wiped by someone who then dumped me outside Konoha. I have no memories of anything whatsoever."

Kankuro and the girl widened their eyes, then turning to each other, nodded at each other. "No memories?" asked Kankuro.

"None, all I remember is my last month here. Why? Do you know me?"

"Here's where we're staying. Come there at 7:00 tonight." He handed me a slip of paper that he had sloppily scribbled an address on. It was legible, however, and I agreed that I would meet there.

First, though, I had to go to the jonin meeting at the Hokage's office. The chunin exams were in a week, and Kakashi wanted me to be present at the meeting when I met my teammates for the exams.

* * *

I arrived just in time for the meeting. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma gave all their teams the okay to participate, though from what I'd seen of Kakashi's team, I hoped that they were better on actual missions. Iruka had a fit, of course; he was far too overbearing of his former students.

"Forgive me if I overstep, but most of the nine students just named were my students while they were at the academy. certainly, they were all gifted and show both commitment and talent, but it's too soon for kids that young to be stepping up to the chunin level." Definitely overprotective. "Only with time will they have the kind of experience and maturity those exams require. I don't understand why their supervisors can't see that."

I decided I might as well say my opinion on the matter, as I was as unbiased as anyone in the room. "Iruka made a few points. I greatly respect Kakashi-san and I believe he is capable of discerning whether or not his team is ready, I've met his team and I wasn't really impressed. Sasuske is skilled, but very full of himself and doesn't work with others well, believing himself above them. Naruto, from what I've been told, is skilled but very immature, however he doesn't cave in under stress. And Sakura, is neither skilled, or mature. She allows the others on her team to do all the work, and shows blatant favoritism towards Sasuske, simply because she believes him to be good looking. Age, however, doesn't matter. I'm just saying I wasn't impressed earlier today when Kakashi's team was fighting some sand shinobi. It wasn't a real fight, of course, but still…" I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "However, in my opinion, Iruka, Kakashi-san, Kurenai-san, and Asuma-san are all excellent jonin and can, I'm sure, make the correct decision on whether or not to send their students to the exams." Iruka went silent.

"I was six years younger than Naruto when I attained the rank of chunin, Iruka," said Kakashi. Impressive. Only six and already a chunin.

"Naruto's not like you!" What Iruka said was true, Kakashi and Naruto certainly weren't alike in any way. Actually, no one on Kakashi's team was like Kakashi. "Do you want to destroy those children? You all know what they call the chunin selection exams don't you?"

"They gripe about every detail of every mission. Just for once, I think it would do them good to find out what real pain is." I personally, agreed with that. "Let's admit it. Breaking them would be fun."

"They have to grow up at some point, Iruka. And now, I think, is an excellent time to do so," I added. It was quickly turning into a three sided conversation between Iruka, Kakashi, and myself.

Iruka was not pleased. "Are you out of your mind!"

"It was a joke, Master Iruka -" Kakashi started.

"I wasn't joking, Iruka. About growing up that is." These kids needed to mature a little if they were to become good ninjas. A ninja can't be coddled, it's as simple as that.

Kakashi continued. "I understand you, and I'm sorry if my recommendation upsets you, but I stand by it."

"But…" Iruka was at a loss for words and it was obvious he was letting his feelings for his students cloud his judgment. And, when genin were put in cells with a jonin, they tended to get a lot better extremely rapidly. More individual attention.

"Kakashi can we finish this?" asked Kurenai, exasperated.

"It's none of your business anyway," said Kakashi. "They're not your students anymore, they're soldiers under my command." This guy had obviously been in the Third Great Ninja War. Kakashi, however, had made his point and we moved on.

Afterwards, the Hokage asked me and Kakashi to stay back. "I'm sorry that you're going to be against genin when you're observably above genin level, but I don't know any other way to do this. I've contacted the Kazekage, and he says that he can't recall any Tsunagi going missing recently."

"Oh," I said.

"Anyway, here are your papers to be submitted to enter the exams. Your teammates are waiting for you outside this building." I nodded. "Kakashi will be introducing you." I nodded again.

As Kakashi and I stepped outside the Hokage's office, I pulled him aside. "The sand shinobi I met today. It looked like they recognized me. When I asked them about it, they gave me an address to meet them at." I showed him the address. "I figured you ought to know in case they're up to something fishy."

"Okay. I'll be by your apartment around 10:00 tonight to make sure you're not dead." He said this, like a lot of things he said, matter-of -factly

"I saw snippets of my memories when I was around them, so I think the meeting is legitimate."

"You saw snippets of your memories?"

"Almost like pictures, for a split second."

"Will you still be participating in the exams?"

"Well, it's something to do, and it's also a backup plan, so yeah. Anyway, I've got to be going. Thank-you, Kakashi-san."

"You can just call me Kakashi. You wouldn't be in the bingo book, would you?"

"No. My clan has mostly been in hiding for almost twenty years now, so there aren't that many of us drawing attention to ourselves. Thanks again." He took me outside to meet the people I'd be spending the chunin exams with.

**Author's Note: This is not a romance between Ai and Kakashi, it's just a friendship. By the way, Ai and Gaara are only few years apart, physically now. While Ai is actually 26 she is still physically 18. Next chapter: why Gaara doesn't remember Ai and Ai's meeting with Kankuro, Temari, and Baki. Plus, a surprise visit from Kakashi during that meeting!**


	6. Chapter 6

Outside the Hokage's building, I met the kids who would be on my team during the exams. They were about fifteen and weren't anything special. Their names were Ryo and Haru and it was obvious after about two minutes that if we were going to get through the exams, it was going to be through me. Let's just say that neither of them were the brightest of boys.

After we set up a training time for tomorrow, I set off towards the address that Kankuro gave me. It turned out to be a hotel room, and when I stepped inside the room, it became increasingly obvious that they knew me.

"Ai," said Kankuro. "Your name is Ai."

A man stepped forward and my headaches came back. I saw him, looking a little bit younger, in some sort of office and he was smiling. He put one hand on each shoulder and looked me straight in the eye. "You're sure that you remember nothing? My name is Baki, do you remember me?"

"I don't remember anything," I said stiffly. "My first memory is from about a month ago - I woke up in Konoha hospital not even knowing my name or how old I was. "

"Have your memories been sealed…Ai?"

"Yes, and nobody here knows how to break the seals. They're powerful. I came here for answers, so can you give me some?"

"What do you want to know?"

"My name is Ai?" He nodded. "What happened to me?"

He was about to answer Kakashi casually walked into the room. "Hello," he said to me. "The more I thought about it , the more it sounded like a trap, so like the good friend I am, I decided to check on you!" He looked suspiciously at Baki.

I sighed. "Please go on. Surely there isn't anything here that you shouldn't mention to him."

Baki continued, a little more cautious this time. "You disappeared on a simple mission. All we found was blood in the sand, your smashed violin, and your Suna headband. We don't know what happened and we assumed you were dead."

"Tell me more about myself."

"You were a jonin and watched over the Kazekage's son Gaara - "

"Wait, Gaara?" I interrupted. "He's the red-headed boy. It was only now that I noticed he was missing. Where is he? Why didn't he recognize me?" I demanded.

"When you disappeared, Gaara was devastated. You and him were very close and he nearly destroyed the entire city, he was so upset. We had to wipe his memory as well to prevent the entire city from being destroyed. He's not here because he didn't realize that you were his previous caretaker."

"I've been getting tiny pictures from my memory back since seeing Gaara earlier today. In my memories, he was a little boy - maybe five."

"Ai, it's been eight years since you disappeared from Suna." That thought struck me like a slap in the face.

"Eight years?" I whispered. He nodded. "How old am I?"

"You're 26, but you haven't aged a day since the day you left for that mission. At some point, you must have activated your clan's immortality jutsu."

"Immortality jutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"The Tsunagi clan can become immortal, to an extent. They make it so that they can't age, but they can still be killed. The jutsu wasn't activated in Ai before she left, but soon after she left it must have been activated."

"How?" I whispered. "How? Kakashi, can I still go back with them when they go back to Suna?"

"I'm afraid you can't if you don't have all your memories back."

It was too much to handle and it felt like my brain was about to explode. Suddenly, I collapsed.

Suddenly, like water released from a dam, I began getting memories back. I remembered the intense Tsunagi training, I remembered The Third Great Ninja War, and I had every single memory until I was 17. My parents, their murder, the Tsunagi clan; all my childhood memories seemed to be there.

I woke up in Konoha hospital. Kakashi was there. "What happened?" he asked.

"I have all my memories up to age 17. I guess it was just a lot for my body to process."

"Inoichi was in here earlier and he said that the seal was loosened. Whoever sealed your memories must have thought that it was unlikely that you would see anyone you knew, because that seems to be what loosened the seal."

"Can I still be in the Chunin exams?"

"Yes, it's only 7:00 in the morning. You've been out for about 11 hours, but you don't have to turn your application forms in until 4:00 this afternoon."

"Good, then I'm getting out of here to go train with my new team members."

"Sorry, they were the only team that was short a member."

"It's fine. I just hope they don't get cowardly on me." I got out of the hospital bed, and was checked out of the hospital five minutes later.

* * *

After an hour of training and trying to teach my team some morse code, they still hadn't made much headway. Neither of them had any special skills at all and it would take a miracle to get through the exams.

I heard a funny noise from far away that was getting closer by the millisecond. I managed to duck just in time, and I saw my teammates get thrown three meters away by someone's fist.

My violin was in my hand and playing before you could say 'Konoha', and within seconds, our attackers were under my influence. I used my genjutsu to make them stop, and then I took a good look at them.

I recognized one of them as Maito Gai. A jonin who was constantly bugging Kakashi. The three kids with him were obviously his students. I released them from the genjutsu and glared at Gai.

"Ha ha ha! I just know that my Lee will beat you because of your weak Taijutsu, Tsunagi!" Why did Gai have to turn everything into a contest?

"You're annoying, Gai," I snapped. "And what are you disturbing us for? If you want a practice field, there are plenty that you can use besides this one."

"I just wanted to see what your team was like!" he excitedly said as he swept me into a headlock and began giving me a noogie.

That's when I got pissed and used a move that I didn't use often. My pupils expanded to cover my entire eye, and I took control of Gai's mind. _Stop! _I ordered. _Now let me go!_

He did as I said and I ended the jutsu right away, feeling drained. It took a lot out of me and that's why I used it so little.

He glared at me. "Your special gifts that you were born with are nothing compared to hard work!" he declared.

"And what makes you think that I haven't worked hard? I got some of my memories back last night, and I've remembered how hard I worked. I've put in enough hard work to be just as good as your student, just in different aspects. I work hard, just not on Taijutsu. Part of your downfall, Gai, is your groundless assumptions and outright favoritism towards those similar to you, and outright prejudice against those with kekkei genkei."

I took my team members and left so that we could train some more before we turned in our application forms.

**Author's Note: Okay, I'm going on vacation soon and will be gone until mid to late August. I won't be able to update, and I apologize in advance to those who read this, however few that may be. Review though, and I will continue this story when I get back from vacation with renewed vigor.**

**By the way, thank you to those who have reviewed. Especially .Nicoleta who convinced me to update this story before I left on vacation.**


	7. Chapter 7

When Ryo, Haru, and I were heading to room 301 to turn in our forms, we ran into a commotion on the second floor. And right in the middle of it, were Kakashi's students, as well as some chunins disguised as kids. They began going on about how dangerous the exams were, and were blocking access to the room behind them, which wasn't room 301, it was room 201.

Genjutsu was at work and as a genjutsu specialist, I would know. I walked up to the chunin culprits and said in surprise, "Izumo? Kotetsu? What are you guys doing here?" I paused and thought about it for a moment. "You know what, I don't wanna know." My not-so-bright teammates were already trying to get past the door. Though, while _my_ teammates were idiots, it was obvious that Kakashi's team had already seen through the ruse. Not bad at all.

We still had a little time before we had to turn in our forms, and I was just so curious about Kakashi's and Gai's teams that I decided to wait a little bit and observe. After all, it was bound to be interesting.

I had already profiled Kakashi's teams and knew a few of their weaknesses, so I turned to Gai's team. I already knew that that eyebrows kid was an expert in Taijutsu - I would have to look out for him. And the other boy on the team was obviously a Hyuuga, though how skilled he was with the Byakugan I still had yet to see. The girl, I knew nothing about so this was all the information I had to go on for now.

With my better-than-average hearing, I noticed Lee's request for Sasuske to fight him. Now this was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. I was worried that, if I were to fight the boys in Gai's team, I might lose. Especially Lee. While I could usually hear him coming from a mile away, if he and the rest of the team managed to sneak up on me, there was no telling how the fight might go. His fight against Sasuske would be an excellent way to analyze Lee's moves and see how Sasuske fared.

It was obvious from the beginning of the fight that Sasuske's high opinion of himself would be his downfall, but in his defense, Rock Lee was a truly fearsome fighter. However, I found his lectures on gifts you were born with tiring. So what if he got the fuzzy side of the lollipop when it came to being about to ninjutsu and genjutsu? That didn't mean he had to assume that all who were born with a kekkei genkai were lazy people who relied solely on their gifts to be great ninjas.

Needless to say, Sasuske got his ass handed to him, even before Gai's tortoise intervened, and Lee got chewed out by Gai.

Despite my rather iffy feelings about Kakashi's team, I couldn't help but think of them as kindred spirits when they saw Gai. The looks on their faces mirrored my own feelings when I saw the irksome man appear. And his little 'touching moment' with his student was almost enough to make me gag.

While Gai was talking to the other kids, he suddenly turned his attention towards me and smiled at Sasuske. "It looks like your fight drew a crowd," he chuckled.

I kept my face as neutral as possible. "Gotta size up the competition, don't I?"

"I wouldn't think that there would be any competition for you here, Tsunagi."

"It's best not to underestimate your opponents, Gai. It could make the difference between winning and losing." The stare I gave him was a pretty icy one, but he wasn't fazed by it.

"Trying to unnerve me with those golden, special eyes, Tsunagi?"

"Why is it you bring up my eyes in every conversation we have, Gai?"

"You shouldn't overestimate your gifts, or you'll end up like poor Sasuske here." He gestured to the irate Uchiha.

"The same goes for you and your pupil, Gai."

"His hard work will ensure a youthful victory!"

"Hard work only takes you so far, and if hard work ensures victory, then I have this competition in the bag."

"Because of your gift, you wouldn't have to work hard. You could be better than everyone else even if you were being lazy! You probably grew up pampered and told you were special and better than everyone else -"

He probably would have droned forever if I hadn't lost my temper. For the second time that day, I entered Gai's mind.

Instead of yelling at him, though, I showed him some of my newly recovered memories. My parent's murder, and the circumstances under which they took place; the very harsh, strict, and grueling training that all Tsunagi went through; I showed him how I had to fend for myself when my clan went into hiding. I showed him every hard time in my life I had gone through up until I was 17.

Now my voice was little more than a growl. "You know nothing about me Maito, so don't assume anything about me. It is because of the gifts my clan possesses that we are hunted and killed. Just because I have a kekkei genkai, doesn't mean my life has been a stroll through the forest."

"Haru, Ryo!" I barked. "C'mon. We're going to turn in our application forms." I hoped that after this, Gai would think twice before going into one of his speeches again.

* * *

While we were waiting for the first leg of the exam to begin, we ran into the other rookie teams. The first was Asuma's team.

Shikamaru: Asuma told me he was a genius, just lazy, and easily drawn away from a fight.

Chouji: Asuma told me he ate too much, but trained as much as the next guy. He was currently munching on a bag of chips.

Ino: A Sasuske obsessed fangirl. In other words, anther Sakura.

I had trained with them once, and they were okay for a rookie team. Though, I had a feeling that Asuma only put them in the exams because he wanted to see how Shikamaru would do. And, their moves were easily countered by genjutsu, especially because none of them moved particularly fast.

I waved at them and they casually waved back. The next group I saw was Kurenai's team. I waved at them also and tried to recall what I knew about them.

Kiba: Likes to feel like the leader. Has a big mouth, and has a sense of smell as good as my hearing. A decent fighter, though.

Shino: Rarely talks, and uses his beetles for fighting. What he didn't know was that I could control his bugs with genjutsu.

Hinata: A sweet, shy girl who I would feel guilty fighting. Her Byakugan is definitely developed.

I waved at them also and wandered off, exploring the room until Ibiki and the proctors arrived. My adrenaline was pumping and my violin was ready for anything. The first exam was about to start!

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews and sorry for the wait. Unfortunately, school will be starting soon which will profoundly cut back on my free time, and limit the time I have to write and publish my fanfiction. But, I will still try to keep this story going strong because I just love Ai so much! I give virtual brownies to all who have reviewed!**


	8. Chapter 8

I recognized most the ninjas who were up front with Ibiki - not that that would make any difference in the exams. Now, if I remembered correctly from previous exams I'd taken, there would be a list of rules to follow all throughout the exams, and then there would be rules for each individual exam. As expected, there were.

The first rule, no fighting, wouldn't be hard to follow though it was a little bit of a disappointment. After this rule was announced, he told us there would be a paper test.

Paper test? Something was fishy. A lot of good ninjas suck at theory, it's as simple as that, so why would they have a paper test? I saw Naruto's panicked look and marked him as a prime example. I also had, incidentally, stolen the school records for a lot of other Konoha applicants and a lot of them were in a similar boat with Naruto. (Don't worry, those under my genjutsu never noticed the theft.) There was something else going on here, for sure. In fact, the actual paper test might end up being useless and also might be a façade to cover up something else.

Well, whatever Ibiki was getting at, it would become more apparent after the test started, so I turned in my application along with Ryo and Haru and received my number.

I ended up being near a lot of people I knew. I was only a short ways from Kankuro and Gaara, and I was right next to Neji. When I sat down, he gave me a smirk and said, "This will be interesting."

"You're lucky. Your teammates aren't complete morons."

"Lee's not the best at paper tests."

"Yeah, but if he gets through this, he'll be useful later on. My teammates…won't."

He glanced at them and chucked, "I see your point."

Ibiki began explaining the rules of the test. Rule on was easy for a 5-year-old to understand, no worries about Ryo and Haru there, at least. But two was complicated. Teams being separate but unified was bad for me. They wouldn't have my help, but if they messed up, they dragged me down with them. I really hope they, Ryo and Haru, understood how much I wanted this when I gave them death glares.

Rule three was confusing. Why give people multiple chances to cheat, and not send them out right when they were caught? And besides, this was about becoming a chunin, not being little angels. Like I said, something was fishy and Ibiki was an expert at Psychological torture, so this was a mental test, not a paper test, most likely.

I figured I would probably be one of the first to realize this was more than a paper test, so that gave me an advantage. But not by much, as I still had yet to realize the exact point of this part of the exams.

"You have one hour starting…now!"

As fast as I could, I flipped over my paper and read it over.

They were all…difficult, to say the least, and I was technically a jonin. Plus the only reason I really knew the answers was because I had always done pretty well on paper test, and because of experience. Okay, so I knew the answers to about five questions, so , taking that all into account, my teammates would know about zero of the answers! In fact, most people here wouldn't know any of the answers. then, the light bulb appeared. I knew the only way to get past this exam was to cheat.

While I was writing down my answers I considered my options.

I could try to put the entire room under genjutsu, but that would be hard and considering there were so many people here. _And,_ Sasuke would be immune for sure, maybe Hinata and Neji - they all might squeal. Also, that would be a bigger chakra drain than entering someone's mind. This wouldn't be the best option.

Option two, Morse code. I had tried to teach Ryo and Haru it, and they had learned a little, though probably not enough for these test answers. I also wouldn't count on them being on the lookout for communication - they probably still didn't know that they were supposed to cheat - but the proctors would be looking for communication for sure and Morse code was pretty easy to spot.

My third- and seemingly my only option - was to enter their minds and tell them the answers. It was foolproof except for one fact: It was a _huge_ chakra drain. I had already used this move a couple times today, so using it on both Ryo _and_ Haru would be a stretch, plus I would have barely enough chakra left for a couple of non-solid doppelgangers. Meaning, I wouldn't have any chakra for later exams.

But no matter the plan's flaws, it was the only one that would probably work.

Here goes nothing…

**Author's Note: **_**REALLY SORRY**_** for the short chapter but I'm a little short on time and I don't currently have the manga in front of me to peruse. Maybe I'll be able to update this weekend…but I'm definitely not going to make any promises. Things are a little hectic for me right now. I'm moving, and my new house doesn't have internet, phone, or TV connection. So, I can write, I just can't update and I find I do my best writing on a keyboard. I'm currently at my old house typing up the chapter I wrote a few days ago. Sorry again. :( **


	9. Chapter 9

There is no describing the exhaustion I felt when finished giving the problems to my team mates. My head throbbed, my eyes drooped, and I fell, unconscious, onto the table.

I felt a sharp poke in my side. I was far too tired, so I ignored it. There it was again. What could possibly be so important that I had to wake up for it? Oh, crap, I was taking the exams!

I jolted awake to see Neji's face smirking at me. "Have a nice nap?"

"Don't talk to me," I growled.

"Get ready for the tenth question," I heard Ibiki announce. "And before we get to the question itself, I have one more rule." Another rule? _'You've got to be kidding me! I already have the handicap of two idiot team mates, and now I have this to deal with too!'_

He paused, for dramatic effect, I'm sure. "First you must choose whether you accept or reject this question."

There were many outbursts, but I chose to stay silent. The entire test had been a ploy all along. Our scores didn't matter, we just had to accept the question, and we were onto the next round. (Hopefully with a small break period in between so I could replenish my chakra.)

My suspicions were proved true when Ibiki began to elaborate. "If you refuse to answer the question, you lose all your points and are failed, along with you team mates. But, if you answer the question, and answer it incorrectly, you will fail, and never be allowed to take the chunin exams again."

I felt doubt about my accusations creep over me. Never take them again? What if I _do_ end up stuck in Konoha. They had some sort of ignorant rule about people who didn't have memories. If a person can't get all their memories back, then Konoha can't release them from the city. And, if that were the case with me, I think I would go insane if I couldn't at least be a ninja and carry out missions. (Which would give me a decent prospect of escape.)

I shook my head, strengthening my resolve. I was going onto the second exam if it killed me, and my team mates were coming with me, whether they liked it or not.

I began paying attention to Ibiki again - I had accidentally spaced out and hadn't heard him for the past few minutes. "Those who choose not to accept, should raise their hands. Once their number has been confirmed, they may leave the room."

Slowly but surely, hands began to raise, and people exited the room. Obviously not gutsy or courageous enough to be a ninja. The point of the question was very basic. Sometimes, as a ninja, you have to lay everything on the line.

I kept my eyes on Haru and Ryo, afraid that they might raise their hands. Haru almost did, but one death glare from me, and his hand went down real quick. They would thank me later, when they passed the first exam. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to save their sorry asses during the second exam, too, but I probably would.

Then, to my absolute and pure surprise, Naruto raised his hand. He may be an idiot, but from what Kakashi told me, if any ninja were to lay everything on the line, it would be Naruto. Once he opened his big fat mouth, though, I understood. "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE ME! I DON'T QUIT AND I DON'T RUN. I'll accept your question! Even if I'm a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still become Hokage, even if it's by pure stubbornness!"

It was almost as though Naruto had broken the spell of fear that Ibiki had cast upon the entire room. His confidence was contagious, and after that, nobody raised their hands. _'How interesting, Naruto,'_ I thought. _'Maybe you would prove to be an interesting opponent during the course of things.'_

"So, everyone who is still here, you've just passed the first exam." I was sure to give Ryo and Haru 'I told you so' looks and they blushed in embarrassment of me being right. Maybe they would listen to me better in the future. Probably not, but I wasn't going to give up quite yet.

I looked around. Amazingly, all the Konoha rookies were still here. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were still there. I could help but be happy about that, maybe I'd get more of my memories back. I just hoped that I wouldn't have to fight Kankuro. Puppets weren't affected my jutsus. And I had heard about that were still capable of operating themselves if their owners were incapacitated.

Ibiki suddenly a very 'Naruto' smirk and said, "There was no tenth question beyond the whole 'accept' or 'reject' thing." I turned my head down and smirked as well.

"Did you guess that?" Neji had returned his attention back to me. It was a little hard to hear him over the noise of other people yelling, but we managed to have a conversation."

"Yep. Don't forget, I'm technically a jonin."

"That's hardly fair."

"Don't worry. I've been given a handicap." I nudged my head in the direction of my team mates who were staring at Ibiki, dumbstruck.

"You must have given them answers though. How did you do it?"

"Well, I knew about five of the questions, so I didn't cheat off anyone. But, I had to enter their minds to give them the answers. There were no other options."

"You used that on Gai-sensei, right?"

"Yes."

"How does it work. I thought you needed your violin to do it?"

"My violin just speeds the process up. I can still do it without my violin, though. It's just infusing my chakra into the air."

"Once you enter a person's mind, can you control it?"

"No. Just send messages. It's a huge chakra drain. Plus I've used it multiple times today, so -"

There was a collective gasp all around the room when Ibiki took off his hitai-ate. There were scars all over him.

"He really is a different person," Neji commented.

"He tells really good jokes."

"And how would you know?"

"I trained with jonin. I also hang out with them instead of a bunch of snot-nosed brats." I didn't say it harshly, so Neji knew there was no malintent.

"So, do you know the next officer?"

"Well…." There was a huge crash. "Ah, it seems that she's arrived."

* * *

A few days ago. "Ahh, Kabuto. There is one other person I would like you to keep an eye on."

"Who, Orochimaru-sama?"

"The woman with the golden eyes."

**

* * *

**

**Author's Note: Okay, here I'm going to try something that my friend did. It'll be a sort of talk show between the fanfiction characters. If you think it's totally lame, I won't do it again. I promise. It's also to make up for the short chapter last time. By the way, I hope no one's surprised that Orochimaru is interested in Ai. Her immortaily jutsu would really appeal to him.**

Hello and welcome to Mochi! Here on the show today we have Ai, Kakashi, Gai, Neji, Baki, and Kankuro!

Author: So, Ai, what do you think so far about the chunin exams.

Ai: I remember them being a lot easier. Ibiki was tough.

Author: Now, there have been multiple rumors going around (Not really, but it's interesting) that this is going to be a romance. Any comments.

Ai: I can't remember where the heck I've been for the last nine years. Besides, who the heck would I be with? Gaara, who doesn't even remember who I am?

Author: *laughs nervously* Really? Not Kakashi, Baki, or Neji? *Afore-mentioned males blush*

Ai: *sweat drop* We're just friends. Kakashi and I, that is. I barely know Neji or Baki.

Author: Sorry, I'm just making sure that my readers understand that Ai is not interested in them. Moving on. Kankuro, how do you feel now that Ai might be a part of Gaara's life again?

Kankuro: I don't know. I wish I knew where she's been the past eight years.

Author: I totally understand. Do you think it will be good for him once he remembers her?

Kankuro: She managed to control him before, and improve him. Maybe she can now.

Author: Okay, Kakashi. Are you surprised that Ai and your team are moving to the next exam.

Kakashi: Not really -

Author: Oh! We're out of time. Next time - if there is one - we'll talk to Kakashi and Baki, and Neji! Because, most likely, Gaara and Naruto will be busy.


	10. Chapter 10

I stood outside the Forest of Death, about ready to be let in for the second part of the exam. My head was pounding and my vision blurred. I was in bad shape and I knew it. My legs shook, my hearing was muffled, everything was wrong with me.

We walked through the foreboding forest, well, they walked and I stumbled. "We're looking for a place that I can rest at until some of my chakra is replaced. One of you will make sure no one attacks and the other one will get food and water," I ordered.

We came upon a clearing and I sensed chakra. A certain kind of chakra. One that I distantly recognized. Gaara's.

There was blood everywhere, and for the time being, my vision cleared. Gaara was dangerous, and I didn't remember how I handled him in the past because my memories cut off right before I met Gaara. We were in deep shit. If there was one thing I had learned from my meeting with Baki, it was that you don't ever mess with Gaara.

"I still haven't been sated." His eyes wandered until they met mine. "You. From the Tsunagi clan." He looked me over, appraising. "You don't have a hitai-ate. Aren't you from Konoha."

"I'm originally from Suna." My head hurt even more now, as I stared into his hateful eyes. I heard someone in the bushes, I didn't know who, but all I knew was that they were no match for Gaara. "Gaara, wait!" I was about to run over to him, but tripped over my heavy boots and landed flat on my face. "Perfect," I whispered under my breath.

As I was standing up, Gaara scrunched his eyes closed in pain. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

I was going to tell him. I desperately wanted to tell him everything I knew from Baki and Kankuro and Temari. But, one look from Kankuro told me this wasn't the time. "I don't remember my name. For now, I am just Tsunagi." The tension between us could have been cut with a knife and it was made so much worse by the fact that I was so weak from lack of chakra that I was about to collapse.

"You already have a set of scrolls, Gaara. You don't need any more."

"You act like you know me." He glared. "I don't take orders."

My eyes flashed and I gave him an angry look that he seemed to recognize. "Okay…fine. I'll see you later on I expect, Tsunagi." He still looked at me curiously, wanting to know more.

They left. I was glad to have avoided a confrontation with Gaara. I just couldn't handle anything right now. "Haru," I whispered. "Get food and water and don't get yourself killed. Ryo, make sure no one kills us while I'm asleep." I collapsed right there.

I dreamt of Gaara. He was a small boy, maybe five. And I was appointed to take care of him by the Kazekage. He glared at me and put up fights, and he terribly misbehaved all the time. But he got better, and we got close. The memories flooded me, like before and I remembered everything up until a certain date. The day I went on my first mission in years. After I left Suna that day, it was all blank.

When I woke up, my chakra was a lot higher than it had been earlier, and Ryo and Haru were waiting. "Let's go," I said. "I'll play my violin and ensnare some people into a trap."

We strolled along, a continuous stream of notes being emitted by my instrument. I remembered Gaara. His eager five-year-old voice begging me for ice cream that day, or asking what we were going to do that particular morning or afternoon.

And here he was now, 13.

"Tsunagi." I returned my attention to Ryo and Haru. We were joined by some ninjas, luckily for us they were just a bunch of weak teams, easily bent to my will by my jutsu.

I played a few loud, low notes on my G string, and all the teams set down their scrolls. We had a heaven scroll, and there was only one earth scroll. I smirked. Excellent.

I snatched the scroll, and my team and I walked quite a distance from the teams we had ensnared. My exceptional hearing allowed me to hear a commotion going on from half a kilometer away. I couldn't tell from this distance, but it couldn't hurt for me to check it out. Best not bring Ryo or Haru, though.

"Ryo. Haru," I barked. "Stay here. I hear something and I'm going to investigate. And try not to get killed, okay. I'll be back before too long, and don't move from this spot."

I moved as quickly as I could to the spot where I heard the noise coming from. Immediately, I knew that something was wrong. There was a dark chakra emanating from Sasuske, who, with Naruto, lay unconscious. Lee wasn't far away, awake, but in very bad shape, along with Sakura.

Sasuske's chakra was disturbed, not in the way that it was under genjutsu, but in a far more sinister way. And somehow, I recognized the chakra. Something from my lost memories? I didn't know, but what I did know was that those kids were in way over their heads. They needed help.

I was about to run in when Sakura cut her hair off to escape from the girl from Otogakure. Good girl, Sakura, I thought as I ran in to help. You're finally beginning to learn a little about being a ninja. Because when you're a ninja, looks begin to go down the tubes.

I whipped out my violin and before anyone could do anything, everyone within earshot froze, under my control.

It was a special jutsu. Everyone could still hear me, but their motor skills were completely useless. "Ah, now that's much better," I sighed. "With all the noise you people were making, someone would think that there was a fire. I walked up to Sakura and examined her now short hair. Good job. However, that was a really stupid place to try and hold anyone." I turned to the Oto nin, Kin, I think. "The hair? Seriously?" My chakra was beginning to drop again, though, and I couldn't really afford to lose much more. I still wasn't at my peak condition, my chakra at half its usual level. So, I had no choice but to release them. "If you Oto nin simply take their scroll, I won't stop you, but I won't have any more death at this trial then there already has been." I remembered the ninjas who died needlessly because of Gaara's actions.

I played a few chords to release them from my jutsu, and successfully camouflaged my chakra a few meters away in the trees.

"Damn it, she got away!" yelled the guy with big hair and the holes in his hands.

"It doesn't matter. Concentrate," barked the other guy. He slightly reminded me of myself. Barking order to his team mates. He was the leader. If he went down, the others would surely go down with him.

Asuma's team popped out and I kept a close eye on things, making sure they didn't get out of hand, throughout the entire time they were fighting.

"We're after Sasuke." Okay, what was going on here? Sasuke's disturbed chakra, their passing up chances to grab scrolls, no interested in the exams… There was someone else pulling the strings here. Damn it, who could it be? I know that I recognized that chakra from somewhere. I know for sure I had encountered it before.


	11. Chapter 11

I continued observing lazily from a distance, and to what should my wandering eyes should appear, but Neji and Tenten, showing no fear. Things still weren't what you could call out of hand though, and with the chakra level I had now, I wasn't willing to risk my chakra unless it was absolutely necessary. And I got the feeling that the Oto nin were tiring of this, which would end the fight.

"Well, from the look of it, we won't have to," Neji said, before I had even noticed a change in Sasuke's condition. I couldn't get over that chakra and it was bugging me.

I was trying to figure out what to do with Sasuke when things began getting _way_ out of hand. It would seem that I was exceptionally unobservant at the moment because another thing had escaped my notice during my contemplation. Sasuke had begun fighting the Oto nin and had broken the arms of the big-haired rash guy.

Whoa. He was turning as sadistic as me. However, I inflicted mental pain instead of physical. It was time for action.

I leapt from the tree I was hiding in, and began playing like mad. Sasuke, like everyone else, was unable to escape the mournful tones. "Alrighty then!" I said in a fake perky tone. "I am going to release everyone who is not Sasuke, and you Oto nin are going to hand over the scroll because Sasuke did beat you fair and square." I released the others from my mental hold, keeping only Sasuke binded by the jutsu.

"Why are you only keeping Sasuke?" Sakura demanded.

"Because," I grunted. "I just want to check out his chakra. Maybe he hit his head and screwed up the amount of chakra his body is producing. So, I'll see what I can do. Now, away with you!" Once everyone was out of earshot, I took a good hard look at Sasuke.

I began speaking as I inspected the markings that were all over. "Your own chakra is disturbed and have been emitting a chakra that is not your own. I have allowed you to move your head so you can shake it yes or no. Did you run into anyone who could have caused this?" He gestured yes with his head and I decided I didn't have enough time to hear the entire story. "I'm going to seal the foreign chakra for now. It will be a weak seal, only meant to last you until Kakashi can have a look at you. I'm usually pretty good with sealing, but I have neither the time, the chakra, nor the knowledge about how you obtained the chakra to do a good seal." I cut my finger open with my kunai and drew the seals in blood around the mark where the other markings originated from. Quickly, I formed the hand signs necessary, and sealed the chakra. It was shoddy, but it would work for now.

When I released him as well he glowered at me. "How is it you always seem to defeat people so easily?"

"I'm a jonin Sasuke, so you shouldn't hold yourself to the same standards. Besides, from what I've seen of your fighting style, I am strong where you are weak and I am weak where you are strong. Though, that seems to be the way it always is with Uchihas and Tsunagi…"

"You've fought Uchiha before?"

"Yes, when they came to Suna, we would get into little friendly matches. Pity that you and your brother are the only ones left, yours was a strong clan." I walked in the direction of my waiting team mates, only to be accosted by the Konoha teams that had fought the Oto nin.

"Why didn't you step in?" they all yelled.

"Well, I'm a little short on chakra at the moment, and whatever fighting experience you guys get only betters you in battle, so…" I trailed off and walked away. "See you guys in the next stage of the exams! I already have my two scrolls."

When I reached my team mates, Ryo started babbling on about running all the way to the tower and I had one eloquent answer for them: No!

"I hate physical exercise in general and only use it when necessary. Besides, we'll still reach the tower by the end of the day walking, so we are walking!"

Our stroll was mostly silent until Haru broke the Utopia of noiselessness by saying, "Ai, you really need to do something with your hair. I mean it just hangs on your head like a dead thing! And when was the last time you got it cut?"

"I don't know, leave me alone!" The next time he tried to make a suggestion of any sort, I hit him upside the head and Ryo sniggered, earning him a hit upside the head too.

* * *

"What was the outcome?"

"He's already exceeded all projections sir, and the Tsunagi girl is thoroughly confused by Sasuke's mark."

"Excellent."

"What is it about her that you want? She is a weakling physically, though her genjutsu is astounding."

"We are what you could call old drinking buddies. We were both in the Akatsuki, and we both broke our ties with the organization. Plus, she has something I want."

"What?" Orochimaru answered Kabuto's question with a question.

"How old do you thing Ai is Kabuto?"

"Late teens. Why?"

"She is 26. And she is immortal."

"Immortal?"

"It is a special jutsu that her clan acquired a long time ago. The body can still be killed, but aging stops altogether. I want to acquire that jutsu because it would mean that I could stop hopping from body to body and stay in one forever. Of course, nobody has every succeeded in replicating the jutsu, so I'm using Sasuke as a fallback."

"I see," Kabuto mused.

"By the way, stay in the competition and test out Ai's genjutsu for me. If all rumors are true about the now elusive Tsunagi clan, then you should be in for quite the experience."

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, I've been pretty busy lately. But as always, I hope that you review!**


	12. Chapter 12

We stepped into a room to relax in until the five days were up, and believe you me, we had plenty of time to rest until then. (Two or three days to be exact.) However, my happiness was shattered a little when I noticed that Gaara was also sitting in that room. No scratches on him, of course.

"Ahh. Tsunagi," He turned to me, not showing any emotion whatsoever.

"Hello Gaara." Although it is not advisable to look someone like Gaara in the eye, I did so out of habit, knowing deep down that he wouldn't hurt me.

"You have arrived earlier than most other teams."

"Well, I am a jonin after all. Besides, after we got out scrolls, we took things pretty leisurely while getting here. We had a plethora of time after all."

"I see. Well, I hope you aren't so lazy as to let your guard down during the next competition. Your chakra was extremely low, last I saw you, though it has gone up considerably since then."

"That was due to matters beyond my reach. So how many other teams have come here so far?"

"Your team, and my team."

"Well, then, we didn't do too bad, considering the infamous and notorious Gaara of the Sand was the only person who beat us."

"How much do you know about me?"

"As much as you do." Kankuro and Temari both looked confused. "Well," I said brightly. "I'm going to go get some food."

"We're hungry, too!" Kankuro and Temari chimed in.

Gaara appraised them cynically. "Don't be too indulgent. You two in peak condition in a couple of days." They nodded nervously as they followed me to exit the room.

"Since when do you know a lot about Gaara?" Kankuro asked.

"Well, when I saw you guys in the forest, I fainted afterwards and I remembered everything up until the day I was kidnapped. The seal on my memories was loosened. However, there is a double seal on my memories after that point. "

"So you remember as much as we do about yourself?"

"Yes. And you're right. I don't think that I willingly left Suna. Aside from leaving my violin behind, and the blood you found there, I simply didn't want to leave Suna. I loved Gaara way too much to do that to him. Especially after his previous caretaker was so horrible and tried to kill him."

"Well," Temari said reassuringly. "You were still better than Yashamaru because at least you never tried to kill Gaara."

"That's not much considering Gaara had to have his memories wiped because of some mistake I made. And I still want to know who wiped my memories so that I can get my revenge."

"Funny. Most adults would preach against revenge," Temari commented.

"Well, while I might be 26 - physically 18 - I still wholeheartedly believe in the idea of revenge. They, whoever the hell they are, took everything away from me. All I know is that they're powerful, and most likely a member of a clan with ocular jutsu."

"What would they have to have ocular jutsu?" Kankuro's head turned sideways in confusion.

"Well you see, clans with ocular jutsu are the only ones who aren't affected by my eyes, so I can't hypnotize them by normal means. They would be able to catch me within seconds."

"So what now?" he asked. "Gaara doesn't remember you. You're stuck here. And if the Kazekage doesn't recognize you, you're going to be stuck here until you remember everything. Which, by the way, is probably not going to happen with a double seal on your memories."

"I know. I want to go back to Suna, and live as I did before, but that can't happen. Gaara isn't a child anymore. He'll be a young man soon." I shook my head to clear it. "So I guess for now my objective is just to finish this up." The two sand siblings made nervous faces that I didn't like the look of. However, I chose to ignore it for the time being, and acting suspicious towards them probably wouldn't help my chances of returning to Suna, either. "I suppose I'll be seeing you two around." I took the food I'd wanted, and walked back towards the room to rest. I was going to get through this competition no matter what.

* * *

With 24 applicants remaining, there would have to be a preliminary round. I looked at the teams around me to try and assess. Gaara's team, of course. I know their abilities and I don't envy anyone who gets paired against one of them. Kakashi's group. Unless I got Sasuke, I could probably beat them. While I hated to admit it, probably everyone in the room had better taijutsu than I did. I'd have to make a note to work on it.

I continued observing the competition until I heard Kiba start whispering to me. "Hey, what's up with that one ginger from sand?"

"Gaara?"

He glared at me. "Who else?"

"Well, let's just say that whoever gets Gaara will be lucky to make it out alive. They won't win."

"How do you know?"

"There is no one here, besides myself, who is good enough at genjutsu to be able to hold him off for long. Gaara is, right now, bloodthirsty. He hasn't honed his ability to control Shukaku over the years, it would seem." I was talking more to myself than Kiba now.

Hayate took over the exam before too long, and Haru and Ryo quickly realized that they wouldn't stand a chance in this exam without me and decided to call it quits.

Ours was a very unceremonious goodbye. We just gave each other a quick wave, and they wished me luck.

Sasuke and some guy called Yoroi were called first. I don't know if this was good or bad for Sasuke because he was so low on chakra and so weak that he could barely move.

When the rest of us went upstairs I sidled next to Kakashi's team. "Kakashi. I think I knew the guy who did this to Sasuke." I could tell he heard me, though I whispered so quietly that Sakura and Naruto could not. "I recognized the chakra."

"It was Orochimaru. I recognize the chakra as well. When do you think you met him?" The name Orochimaru made my head hurt, but I didn't get the usual blip of an image that was supposed to come. He must be involved with, or be, the person who kidnapped me.

"I know that I met him after I was kidnapped from Suna. I got my memories back up until then during the exam."

"Really?"

"Yes. I would never have left Suna unless I was forced to, or had to."

"You did something to the mark, did you not?"

"A really crappy seal. I had very little time to get a good look at it, so I just did a basic one that would only hold for a short while. You should really seal him after this fight."

"Orochimaru is probably after Sasuke."

"I see. Well, if I think I'll try and have a little chat with this Orochimaru before he leaves the party."

* * *

Little did she know, that Orochimaru was just as interested in her as he was in Sasuke.

**Author's Note: Awkward time to end this, I know. But I really don't want to get into Sasuke's fight yet. I also realize that this wasn't exactly an exciting chapter, but hopefully next chapter I'll get into Ai's fight. I also realize this chapter is short, but as I said, I don't want to get into the fighting yet.**


	13. Chapter 13

I sat quietly. Examining the person who called himself Akado Yoroi. They were standing in the ring, also looking at each other. "So," Kakashi enquired. "What is the likelihood of Sasuke winning?"

"That depends. If he doesn't expend any of his chakra, he has a fair chance of winning. But even if he had a lot of chakra, his chances of winning would be low. His chakra is disturbed." I lowered my voice so that Naruto and Sakura couldn't hear. "That mark may have helped him in the forest, but it seems that it is no longer helping him." I decided to raise my voice and try to sound cheery for the genin, though, despite Sasuke's grim prospects at winning. "But, knowing that he is an Uchiha, he'll probably pull through." Gai glared at me. I ignored him.

"You can see Sasuke's chakra right?" Naruto asked, a typically confused look on his face. I nodded. "What does it look like?" He was jumping up and down. "Do you think I could beat him right now?"

"Maybe." Gai was still glaring at me. Wait, Gai! There sure as hell was a way to beat Yoroi and I wouldn't be surprised that Sasuke knew how to beat him, too. Sasuke had gotten his ass handed to him by Lee, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was all in vain. Perhaps our young, bright Uchiha could have the upper hand after all. "Kakashi. I know how Sasuke could win." I smirked. If he just figures it out, his prospects were good. "Okay, bet placing time. 100 ryo says that Sasuke wins. No bets against me? You guys are no fun at all."

Things weren't looking too good for Sasuke right now, though. He was getting almost all his chakra sucked out of him. "That's low," I snorted.

"What's going on?"

"Why don't you find out yourself, Kakashi. You have a sharingan."

"Yes, but it expends so much more energy for me to use it than it does for you."

"Fine. Yoroi is sucking the chakra right out of Sasuke. If Sasuke doesn't keep his distance, then Yoroi will crush him." Come on, Naruto, take the bait. Sasuke had talent, there was no denying that. And if he had talent, then he could win this.

"I'll take you up on that bet, Tsunagi!" Heh. He took the bait. 100 ryo for me! Of course, lucky me, this was about the time that the tables began to turn. Sasuke finally began to realize that the lotus was the only way, and he was coming back with a vengeance.

After a few minutes, Sasuke won. Good, now I could help Kakashi with the sealing. He appeared behind Sasuke just before Sasuke was about to collapse. Then, he glanced at me as if to ask if I was coming, I nodded and then gestured my head towards the screen that would show the next battle. I had to wait until the next two names popped up in case one of them was me. Thankfully, the names Aburame Shino and Zaku Abumi popped up. Yes! I hopped down from the top level, barely keeping my balance, and saluted Hayate. "I'll be back in a jiff!" I skipped off behind Kakashi to try and dissect the curse mark that ailed Sasuke.

"Wait! Tsunagi!" It was Naruto.

"What?"

"Who's going to win?"

"Easy. Aburame."

"100 ryo again?"

"Sure. And you'll lose again."

* * *

"That should do it." I smirked. "Not that hard. However, whoever it was who made that seal was an expert. They sure as hell knew what they were doing."

"You're confident in the new seal's strength?"

"The seal is fine. It's Sasuke that concerns me."

"Why?"

"He's tainted by hate."

"And you know this, how?"

"Because I recognize that I am the same way, in many respects. I _resent _the Kazekage, who ordered the bounty on my clan's head, and I resent all of my family members who turned in their blood relatives for the money. It was my cousin who murdered my parents. No matter how much hate is in me, though, I've always made a point not to let it consume me, and I'm not even going to _try _to take revenge. Sasuke, however, from what you've told me, is hell bent on revenge. I guarantee that sometime in the near future, he'll ask me about revenge." Kakashi was about to speak, but I interrupted. "And when that time comes, I assure you, I will try to steer him away from that direction. But, know this, I can only steer him, I can't force him to do anything."

"I've noticed that, too. He'll listen to you more than me, though."

"He won't listen to anyone if his mind is made up."

A menacing voice wafted from behind us. "Giving up so easily, Ai? Isn't that so _like you._ And Kakashi, you've mastered the spells of sealing, looks like you're all grown up. It's been a long time." A tall man stepped out from the shadows. Thin, pale face. Long, black hair. I knew that I knew him, but who was he. That chakra! It was in Sasuke, and Kakashi told me that it was Orochimaru's, but despite having recognized the chakra, I didn't recognize his face.

Kakashi took a protective stance in front of me. "Get back, Ai. You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Oh, please, Kakashi. I'm not one of the other genin. I'm a full-fledged jonin shinobi. And I can take care of myself." I sidestepped away from him. "Besides, he's not here to fight. He's not even here to take Sasuke. He's here to do mental damage. I sometimes use a similar technique in battle."

"Clever as usual, Ai," Orochimaru chuckled. "Clever. As. Usual." He stared at me (awkward!) with a weird gleam in his eye. "How did you escape, anyway."

Now was my chance to learn what happened to me. "Escape what?"

Now his face looked just dumbfounded. Then he composed himself again and sneered. "Joking again, I see. You always did use humor to compensate."

"I'm not joking. I know nothing about you. I don't remember."

"How can you not remember! Those experiments!"

"My memory's been wiped."

Now he began laughing unpleasantly. "So that's why you're not skipping up to me in greeting. Here I thought you were just being rude. We were old drinking buddies, Ai. We complained about our organization together, silly goose!" He actually came up to me and came me a squeeze. "It's good to see you, again. It's also good to see that your immortality hasn't been reversed. Anyway, we'll talk later! Tootles!" And he scurried off with a grin that I can only describe in one way: a child molester grin!

There was a very long dot, dot, dot, moment that seemed unending. Finally, Kakashi decided to break it. "And just what the hell was that?"

"I have no idea."

"I'll just, uh, take Sasuke to the medic nins now."

"Yeah. I'll help you."

"We'll discuss this later?" I nodded. "_Much_ later?"

"Uh huh."

"It's agreed then!" That was the weirdest display from a heartless missing nin that I had ever seen. What a weirdo! That creep!

* * *

When I reentered the level above the arena, Naruto pointed his finger at me and began screeching. "How did you know that Shino would win? You're stealing my money! Thief!"

"Shut up, Naruto! I knew he would win for four reasons! A: He is from the Aburame clan. B: From what I saw of that Zaku guy, he wasn't very bright. C: Zaku was injured. And D: Not only wasn't that Zaku guy bright, but he was rash. There. Four legitimate reasons supporting Shino's win. You owe me 200 ryo now!" I sang with glee.

"Fine. But I'm not betting against you anymore." A sly look crept onto his face. "Hey Tsunagi? Would you tell me who was going to win so I could bet with other people?"

"Sure, I've got no problem with that…so long as I get 75% of the profits."

"What?" His mouth dropped so far that it fell onto the ground, the dope.

"Survival of the fittest, Naruto. Survival of the fittest. So, deal or no deal?"

"Fine." Ha ha! Money, money, money! All for me! The next two names popped up: Tsurugi Misumi and Kankuro.

I looked at their chakra. Then recalled what I knew about Kankuro. He'd probably been trained really well, considering that he was the Kazekage's son. So, decision made, I said, "Naruto. Kankuro will win. Go find someone stupid enough to bet against you and go take their money." He danced off to go bet against Lee.

My predictions never failed. Except for when I bet that Ino would win against Sakura. However. Neither Lee nor Naruto got any money that time because neither bet that neither girl would win. It actually worked in my favor because that made Lee less suspicious. Eventually, he would probably guess that Naruto wasn't the one that could predict who would win with such accuracy. Temari vs Tenten. Temari won, like I said. Shikamaru vs Kin. Though, I didn't try to predict the Naruto/ Kiba battle. It wasn't really worth my time. Plus, Naruto was a little bit on the unpredictable side. Then it was just Hinata and Neji before me. That was an easy one to call. Neji, hands down.

But now, it was my turn. Up on the screen it read: Tsunagi Ai versus Yakushi Kabuto!

I ever so carefully fell into the arena. Looking weak so that he would underestimate me. I stood up quickly, looking expertly embarrassed, and I practically jumped over next to Hayate. He looked at me funny, know that I was acting uncharacteristically. "I guess this will be a boring battle," Kabuto sighed. Looking truly upset that he didn't get more of a challenge. That bastard! He was going to regret those words.

**Author's Note: Sorry! I really wanted to get into her battle. But I'm going to do a lot of research on Kabuto's fighting style so I can depict the battle as well as possible. (I'm not good at writing fight scenes. *sigh* My inadequacy as an author brings me to tears. (Not really. I document when I cry, and I cry about once a year.) Anyway, tell me what you think about Ai meeting up with Orochimaru. I'll admit that, since having to actually put him in my story, I'm beginning to like his character more!**


	14. Chapter 14

The fight began. First of all, I had to get as far away as possible from this guy, because I was a long distance fighter and close combat was my Achilles' heel. But, no matter how fast I ran, and how much I dodged, he seemed to know all about my need for long distance combat, and wouldn't leave me alone. Either that, or he was strictly a close combat fighter.

Either way, I was in deep trouble. If I wasn't given any time to take out my violin, then I didn't have much value as a warrior. Still, I was doing better at the footwork than I had ever done before, and I hadn't tripped even once. Of course, that couldn't last. Out of pure luck, though, the first time I tripped and fell, it helped me to dodge one of his kunai.

I heard a currently unrecognizable voice shout, "You can do it, Tsunagi!" It boosted my confidence and I decided that I couldn't keep this up, my breathing was already labored from the physical exercise. I needed to end this, and end this now.

My fingers wrapped around the neck of my beloved instrument, and pulled it out along with my bow. As I was beginning my first bow stroke, I felt a terrible pain in my arm and leg as I went flying across the stadium. Blood was rushing out of a cut on my head and I slowly lifted myself, unable to move my right arm or leg. I glanced over next to me and there lay my beautiful violin, crushed. Unplayable. That bastard.

"Now, even if you had managed to make sound come out of your instrument after it was destroyed, you can't anymore because you can't use your arm or leg. I cut the muscles." My eyes could see the chakra on his hand. He had used the chakra as a knife of sorts, cutting the muscles, but not the skin. "Proctor, I believe that Tsunagi-san is currently unable to fight. I win."

"No way in hell." I was practically foaming at the mouth in rage. "I'm standing, aren't I? That means I'm able to fight and you are going to pay tenfold for the damage to my pride and joy."

"Please," Kabuto snorted. "You're _barely_ able to stand. As far as moving goes, you can barely avoid me even when you're in peak physical condition. You can't win." On the contrary! This boy was soon going to find out how imprudent a mistake he had make when he had ruined my most valuable possession, almost beyond repair. All I needed was to buy some time.

"Bring it on," I called him an extremely nasty name after that that made every single person in the room cringe, including my opponent. He did bring it on.

Before I knew it he was coming up from under me and sending me flying yet again. "Tsunagi-san, I don't want to damage you beyond repair, but you're making that so difficult. Your family is fragile enough as it is, and I don't think they can afford to lose another member."

I felt the rage inside of me approaching a boiling point. "I'm sick and tired of my clan being thought of as frail! From now on, if I can help it, every member of my clan born will be taught taijutsu as well as genjutsu. We won't be as fast as Gai, but we'll be strong, and we'll no longer be second to Uchiha! It starts now, Kabuto!" I stood, shaky on my feet, but I felt a new vigor in me that I hadn't felt in years. My youth was finally showing. "Yakushi Kabuto, I'm going to kick your ass!"

Sixty seconds. If I could avoid him for just sixty more seconds, then I was gold. But now, after my little impulsive speech - not like me at all - he was going in for the kill. I could see the chakra on his hand that had cut my muscles, and if he hit me with that again, I wouldn't be able to move at all. He moved toward me, not moving as quickly as he probably could, expecting me to give up. I sprinted out of his way, probably damaging my body even more, but I didn't care. If I didn't win this fight against a mere genin, I would rather die than continue living. I couldn't keep it up for long with my cut muscles, despite my best efforts, and eventually Kabuto had me backed into a corner.

I needed another twelve seconds. That was it. But it would take Kabuto another twelve seconds to come at me with that chakra scalpel of his. My breathing was fast and as deep as I could make it, but I was still far from catching my breath. There was another shout, this time from a source I could see. It was Gaara.

"Ai, if you let him beat you, it would be inexcusable. Don't go easy on him, you can win." Kabuto turned his head. Gaara had distracted him just long enough for me to put my plan into action.

I began humming a little tune and before Kabuto could say 'I'm done for!' he was under my genjutsu, doomed. He did pay tenfold for what he did. Under my genjutsu, he suffered every mental pain imaginable. He was screaming in agony before I was done with him. Eventually, I heard Hayate yelling, over my humming, "Tsunagi, enough!"

I looked up, keeping my face as straight as possible. "But I was just beginning to have fun."

I stopped my humming, though, leaving Kabuto on the ground twitching and moaning from my favorite brand of torture. "The winner is Tsunagi Ai," Hayate coughed. I stared at the crime scene surrounding my violin and tenderly picked up its remains. Damn, this - if it could be fixed at all - would definitely not be fixed by the time the next competition rolled around. But, I sucked it up and decided that the best thing to do would be to stay calm, for now.

I began limping up to Kakashi, and grinned. "That boy certainly deserves to be a chunin at the very least. He was jonin level."

"Ai, your muscles - "

"Should be fine for the time being. I'm going to watch the last few fights, then I'll be getting on my way to have my muscles taken care of."

"At least take it easy." I nodded and sat down.

"So, how did you do it?"

"I saturated the air with my chakra, so that I could use my voice instead of my violin to beat Kabuto. It probably would have been a little more effective to saturate my vocal chords, but that would have taken longer and because I was pressed for time, I went with the quicker fix." He chuckled.

I turned my attention to the conversation going on between Kankuro and Naruto."I don't know what kind of tricks that bowl-cut kid has up his sleeve, but there's no way he'll win against Gaara. "

"No," Naruto answered. "He's stronger than you think."

"Not to be a Debbie Downer here, but Kankuro's right." I turned to Gai. Lee was his pride and joy and I didn't think that he was prepared for the consequences that this battle might bring about. "Gai, come over here and join the conversation."

"Do not be too long, Tsunagi. I must watch Lee's youthful fight! It will beat your unyouthful fight like a fighter beats someone who doesn't work hard."

I sighed, knowing that Gai probably wouldn't listen to me, especially considering the fact that he disliked me, for unknown reason. "Can't you just accept the fact that I did a reasonably good job?" I didn't wait for his answer, choosing to continue. "Gai, there is no way in hell that Lee is going to win this. Pull him out now before he is dangerously injured, or worse. Knowing Gaara, Lee might actually die."

"Lee has worked hard, he will beat this Gaara."

"Gai, you don't understand." I lowered my voice, hoping the redhead in the ring wouldn't hear me. "Gaara is insane. He can't determine between right and wrong, and he actually enjoys killing. Plus, physical attacks don't work on him. You would need to use ninjutsu or genjutsu to even stand a chance against him."

"Lee will win. I don't appreciate you undermining his skill."

"I'm not undermining anyone, but _you _are underestimating Gaara. Please, Gai, I'm begging you for the sake of yourself and your student, _pull him out of this fight._"

"No." He stormed away, ignoring my advice completely.

"You tried, Tsunagi-san." Kankuro looked down to where I was sitting, and set a comforting hand on my shoulder. You can't help him if he doesn't want to be helped."

My voice became hard with emotion. "If Gaara takes things too far, I will step in. I taught that kid manners once, and I can sure as hell do it again."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"I know Gaara. I used to babysit him." Naruto's face took on a typical look of dumbfounded surprise. "Oh, it's not all that surprising. I'm technically thirteen years older than him."

"What do you mean, technically? Are you older than him or are you not?"

"It's complicated."

With every time that Lee tried to attack Gaara and failed, I flinched, worried for Lee. I was waiting for the moment that Gaara chose to use his deadly technique: Sand Coffin. It was only a matter of time, and for Lee, time was running out.

At one moment, Gaara looked up at me, and we had exactly one moment of silent communication. I tried to make him understand not to kill Lee, looking at Gaara in desperation. His eyes took on a defiant look and I understood that it would be absolutely not use. Gaara was going to go in and do everything his way.

Then, the weights dropped and Kakashi said, "Aren't you overdoing it, Gai?" Gai ignored him. I limped over and took Gai by the shoulders. (I felt so weak on my legs that I was actually kind of leaning on Gai.)

"It won't help, Gai. Take Lee out! Now!" He gave me a small shove, which was more than enough to send me to the floor, not that it hurt that much.

"You don't understand, Tsunagi. Lee needs this, so that he will know that he is strong."

"He can't win Gai," My voice cracked. It was just cruel to send that boy out there only for him to be crushed against Gaara's raw power. He was a jinchuriki, after all, and there were many full fledged jonin who couldn't take them on.

"You don't know how strong he is. You'll see. He'll win." Gai's confidence bubbled over as Lee got in a few good kicks. It meant nothing, and that was proven when Gaara got up completely unscathed, just having his sand armor falling off. Hmm. I had never seen him use that. Lee continued, going onward to the lotus, and while he was attacking Gaara's protection, I had my mind focused on _his_ protection. I was carefully monitoring the way Gaara's chakra was operating. And, after Lee's lotus, there was a huge spike in Gaara's chakra, signifying the awakening of the one-tail inside of him. No!

"Gai!" I stood up - painful! - because I knew that I would be needed. The pig-headed Gai wouldn't listen to me and my only choice was to intervene before Gaara killed the boy with abnormally large eyebrows. At this point, even Sakura was telling Lee to quit, and that teenager just wouldn't.

"Gai, don't tell me you…" Kakashi was referring to whether or not Gai had taught Lee about the gates and how to open them. He did, Kakashi, and I certainly wouldn't put it past Gai to do something that risky.

"On the contrary. I did."

"Then that kid, who's just a genin is able to open the eight inner gates?"

"Yes. That's right." I shook my head with disgust. Sometimes I wondered whether or not Gai was trying to kill his student, or make him stronger. "He has the talent."

"No matter how much talent he has, you taught him something horribly dangerous! The reverse lotus tops the list of moves you shouldn't teach."

"I'll say! If Gaara doesn't kill Lee, this certainly could." I felt my blood boiling at the absolute stupidity of this main. He must have had a brain the size of an peanut!

"It's none of my business what that child means to you and I'll spare us both the lecturing about not being governed by your feelings, but you crossed a line on this! You disappoint me Gai." On this depressing note, I stopped listening to their conversation and continued watching the fight. Kakashi and I both watched as Lee's chakra flow was disturbed by the opening of the gates. After that, all I saw was the blur of his chakra as he beat the crap out of Gaara. And finally, Gaara made his move, crushing Lee's arm and leg, and after that went in for the kill I made my move.

The entire place was still saturated with my chakra, and I began humming, targeting Gaara in particular, lulling him and making the sand drop, harmless for the moment. I peeked down and Gai was there, milliseconds after I had gotten Gaara under control. "Why are you protecting him?" Gaara was addressing both me and Gai right now.

Gai answered right away. "He's my lovable precious protégé."

I took slightly longer. "Because you won, because it was the right thing, that, and also because you and Gai have already killed him. I've been able to assess some of his injuries based on his chakra and he will not be able to be a ninja again."

In the end, Gaara couldn't comprehend, and he had won. I walked up to Gai when he had returned to the upper level. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Know what?"

"Everything."

"I used to know Gaara. I know what he is capable of, and I know that Lee's skills, no matter how amazing, would do nothing against Gaara's skills. Lee did well, considering his disadvantage."

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"Don't call me nice, because I'm not. I am, deep down, purely a sadist. However, I felt bad for the kid."

"Why aren't you rubbing this all in my face."

"Because you never intended that kid any harm. You never meant for this to happen and you honest, if stupidly, thought he was going to win. You're lucky he's not dead, considering how Gaara kills people for the fun of it, or something along those lines."

"Didn't you have your memories wiped."

"I've regained at least some of them. Enough." I looked, pitying, into the Gai's tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry, I truly am, but I need to ask a favor."

"What?"

"Once they've patched up my muscles, I'd like you to train me in taijutsu."

Gai didn't say anything and just stared at me with wide eyes. "Are you joking?"

"No. Fighting Kabuto has finally brought about a revelation. I need to change, and at least make my taijutsu average. Otherwise, I may not be so lucky next time. I realize that I probably am unable to reach the level that Lee was at, but if I can at least make myself a little stronger, then I will feel good about myself. I'm weak, though, so cut me some slack, if you're willing to take me on."

His gaze pierced through me, and an unspoken oath passed between us: understanding and respect. We didn't agree, on too many things to count, but we could at least have a respectful, cordial relationship with each other. "Tsunagi-san, I will train you for your next fight."

**Author's Note: Okay, so I was really nervous about this chapter because I'm not very good at fight scenes. So, your reviews and comments on this chapter would be much appreciated.**


	15. Chapter 15

"Pick up those feet! You're not moving fast enough, Tsunagi! Tsunagi! You are a disgrace to all taijutsu!" This was the mantra that Gai had been shouting in my ear for the past two hours as I jogged around the gates of Konoha at the pace of a tortoise. While the muscles in my legs had been healed by a med nin, they were now in immense pain from the physical training that I had to endure on a daily basis. And Gai was a very serious sensei. On that particular day, I thought I was going to die if I didn't rest, so I collapsed, breathing heavily and trying to ignore Gai's yelling about my lack of youthfulness.

"Gai, do you intend to kill her?" Kakashi was leaving the village with Sasuke. "She's had less exercise in her life than any other shinobi you've ever met and you're still training her like this? Just let her rest for a few minutes, finish your training session for the day, then give her the rest of the day off."

"Tsunagi-san wanted to raise her taijutsu level to at least that of the average genin before her battle!" True, that was my wish, because I knew that I couldn't get anywhere near that Dosu guy while he had that special machine attached to his arm. Ours was going to be an interesting battle to say the least: sound against sound.

"I don't recall her saying that she wanted to die before her battle, Gai. Her muscles need a little time to heal before you accost them with exercise, again."

"Fine. But Tsunagi! I expect you to meet me here again day after tomorrow, at six o'clock, ready to work twice as hard, or you'll be doing one hundred laps around Konoha!" I felt sick just thinking about that bleak future where I had to run one hundred laps around Konoha.

"Try not to kill yourself, Ai," Kakashi said, waving, as he and Sasuke left me to my doom.

That afternoon, after my horrendous session with Gai, I was bathing alone in a nice, cold stream. With how hot I felt, there was no describing the bliss I felt as the cool water rushing around my body. As I got out and started changing into non-sweaty clothes, I heard a male chuckling from the cliff overlooking the stream. So, there was a man up there watching me bathe, huh? Under normal circumstances, I might let him be, but given my foul mood and completely unused chakra, I was in the mood to inflict pain on others.

I pretended not to notice him and walked away, planning to sneak up to the cliff. Once there, I pulled out the crappy violin I was forced to use for the time being, and began playing, causing the old pervert to cry out in mental agony. Unfortunately, there was someone there who I recognized…Naruto. "Naruto! What the hell are you doing here with this peeking pervert?" I released them from my genjutsu and the pervert looked just about ready to attack in retaliation until he saw Naruto talking to me.

"Tsunagi-san, what did you do that for? The pervy sage is training me!"

"Pervy sage, huh? Well, the pervy sage was peeking at me while I was bathing in the creek!" I glared at him, hoping he saw the fires of hell in my eyes. Actually, once I was done with him, he was going to wish he was in hell.

"There was absolutely no way you could have seen me! I was perfectly camouflaged." He let out a 'Humph' before crossing his arms like a child.

"You're right, I didn't see you, I _heard_ you."

He flushed. "How was I supposed to know you were a shinobi? You didn't look like one from here."

"Well, this was completely useless. I can't, with a clean conscience, torture Naruto. So, I'll be leaving now thank you very much." As I was walking away, I began muttering about looking for information on Orochimaru when the pervert sat up straighter.

"What is it you want to know about Orochimaru?"

"You know Orochimaru?"

"I knew him once. Why?"

"I have some sort of past connection to him. He recognized me."

"What do you want to know?"

* * *

After my chat with the sage, I found it increasingly difficult to believe that I had ever been even close to friends with Orochimaru. Even so, I had a connection to him, and whatever criminal organization he was part of. I went to sleep, even though it was still early in the afternoon and when I woke up, it was the middle of the night.

Instead of going back to sleep, I decided to take a walk to clear my head. If I went back to sleep, my thoughts would only be plagued by Orochimaru.

It would seem that 2:30 in the morning was the only quiet time here in Konohagakure and it did wonders for my exhausted mind. However, my moment of peace was interrupted when I heard some noise on a rooftop not too far away. Who, besides a crazy person like me, would be out here at this time? When I got to the rooftop, I saw Gaara and that Dosu guy having a stare down, and it was about to turn ugly. And by about, I mean that Shukaku was taking over Gaara. "Get out of here!" I put myself in front of Dosu. "Whatever attacks you have in your arsenal, I'm sure they'll be absolutely useless!"

"What about you?"

"I'm the perfect person for the job." Out came the crappy violin and within moments, my genjutsu had stopped Gaara in his tracks. "Gaara, calm yourself." I cautiously released him from the genjutsu, waiting to see if he would strike again. Slowly, the form of Shukaku began to disappear to be replaced by Gaara. "Dosu, I recommend that you leave Gaara now. And try to make your pace a little on the faster side, if you can.

Once Dosu was well out of range, Gaara spoke to me. "Why do I feel as if I know you? You look so…familiar."

"I only found out about a week ago, and I'm not allowed to tell you anything." I stared at his hateful face and knew that no matter what I did or said, that the little boy I knew for so short a time, was gone. And he was never coming back. But that didn't mean that I was going to let Gaara live as he did now for the rest of his life. "Would it be possible for us to be friends, Gaara?"

I got my answer when he walked away, leaving me feeling somewhat heartbroken.

**Author's Note: Short chapter, I know. And it hardly seems fair to you guys after how long I've made you wait, but this is where I think it's best to leave off. Anyway, I've read a couple fanfictions where the author has asked their readers to draw their OCs, and post the OCs on deviantart. It struck me as an amazing idea. I'm a terrible artist, so whenever I try to draw Ai, she ends up looking really bad. So, if any of my readers could draw her and post on deviantart, that would be awesome. And if you do, please send me the link!**


	16. Chapter 16

It felt strange, standing with the others, when they had their friends and family cheering them on in the stands. I felt alone with no one, apart from the few I had known for only a couple months, cheering me on. Kakashi and some of the other jonin would be happy for me, but they were more interested in their own students than some woman who had been kidnapped from Suna and was now stuck in Konoha. I would have to stay here until my unbreakable seal was broken, and it was so depressing that I almost didn't have the will to fight today.

_Flashback_

_"Hokage-sama, I have a request. I would like to go back to Suna with Team Baki as soon as the exams are over. As I've told you, I've recovered all my memories up until the day I disappeared from Suna, and sir, to be frank, that's where I belong, and not here in Konoha."_

_"I'm afraid, given recent circumstances, that I can't allow you to leave Konoha. And I'm now reinstating your ANBU guard."_

_"What!"_

_"You have connections to Orochimaru. He claimed you were friends when you were both in a criminal organization together. I'm afraid I can't ignore the fact that you were once a criminal."_

_"I never willingly joined that organization!"_

_"And how do you know?" Unlike me, he wasn't getting riled up over this. "You don't have any memories from the day you disappeared, and you show up eight years later, memories erased, immortal, and looking to be accepted back into society?"_

_"I never would have left Suna because that's where the most important person in the world to me, was: Gaara. I couldn't have left that poor little boy alone with no one else in the world. Hokage-sama, all they found in the dessert was my blood, my forehead protector, and my crushed violin. You saw me during the chunin exams when Kabuto destroyed my violin! My violin is my weapon and why would I leave my weapon behind?"_

_"Usually, I'd try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I find it too convenient that you and Orochimaru, old drinking buddies, wind up here in Konoha at the same time. You're a smart, woman, Tsunagi-san, and I think that you're smart enough to fake a kidnapping. Or, at least, I _know_ that Orochimaru is. Maybe your match with Kabuto was just a ruse to make us think you weren't working together."_

_"Your team has seen my memories. I know nothing about Orochimaru!"_

_"Nevertheless…"_

_End Flashback_

I should have had more enthusiasm for Naruto as I watched his fight with Neji, but I just felt so out of it that I was barely even paying attention. I peeked at my ANBU guard, who was standing inconspicuously behind the crowd, and heaved a sigh. Dosu, my first assigned opponent, was nowhere to be found. I had managed to help him escape from Gaara, so my best guess was that he had been so afraid of Gaara, that he had fled Konoha. So now, I would have to fight against Shikamaru, which I was not looking forward to. Although I could put him under my genjutsu almost instantly, I was still afraid of what kind of strategy he might come up with. And after meeting the his dad, I knew that Shikamaru had to have some sort of strategy. In some ways, the outcome of my match against Shikamaru was more questionable than my match against the student of Orochimaru's.

Thankfully, at least, Kakashi trusted me with information regarding Orochimaru. He told me everything he knew about the snake-like man and his assistant, Kabuto.

I watched the rest of Naruto's match quietly, as Shikamaru gave me a lazy gaze. "You seem out of it." He was probably trying to find some mental weakness.

I saw no reason not to give him what he wanted. After all, right now, I was chock full of mental weaknesses. "I can't go home."

"Weren't your memories erased."

"I've managed to get some of them back after the seal was weakened. But, the memories on and after the day I was kidnapped are still as inaccessible as ever. However, recent evidence points to my being involved in a criminal organization that Orochimaru also belonged to. Because of this, despite my recent memory surfacing, I'm still stuck here in Konoha with an ANBU guard."

He raised one eyebrow. "Do you think you willingly joined this organization?"

"No. I had too many reasons to go back home. I think that I was kidnapped because I'm a Tsunagi. It wouldn't be the first time a member of my clan was kidnapped. All I want to do is go home." I sat down, bringing my knees up. "There you go. Information about me to exploit."

"What makes you think I'll use it?"

"I know an idiot when I see one. But, I also know a genius when I see one. And, whether you like it or not, you'll be getting plenty of recognition for your skill soon enough."

He just looked dazed. "It's going to be troublesome fighting you. In fact, I doubt I'll win."

I shrugged. "The only people here I wouldn't win against would be Sasuke for sure, and maybe Neji. Besides, I'm a jonin. It's hardly fair that you'd be expected to fight me. But, I need to start going on missions soon. Otherwise, I'll go insane with boredom. Oh, it seems Naruto is…" I trailed off, looking at the chakra surrounding Naruto. It reminded me strangely…of Gaara's chakra when Shukaku started to get loose. Was Naruto a jinchuriki?

Shikamaru jumped up as Naruto won. "Wow he actually won! I can't believe it! I thought that Naruto was one of the unslick guys like me." I was looking forward to the match between Sasuke and Gaara, because I secretly hoped that Gaara would win. Not that he cared. But, because Sasuke was late - due to Kakashi, I was sure - the match between Kankuro and Shino was moved up. But, as soon as this was announced, Kankuro withdrew. So, I was a little unsure as to where this left me. After a few minutes of the proctors and the Hokage talking Genma had to make another announcement. "Aburame Shino will fight Tsunagi Ai." This was a little surprising, but it would seem a little unfair if Shino moved up without having to fight, while me or Shikamaru would have to fight two times in a row.

So, Shino and I walked quietly down to the arena. I swallowed slowly, hoping he wouldn't be as harsh with me as he was with Zaku Abumi, although I thought that it was dubious at best. I would have to activate my genjutsu swiftly, as I was running away from Shino as fast as I could. He said nothing as we looked in each other's directions and I hoped that I had become fast enough in the last month, to outrun him just long enough for one note. One second.

Then the match began and ended in a matter of seconds.

I began running backwards as fast as I could and took out my violin playing fourth finger on the E string as loud as I could successfully capturing Shino in my genjutsu. I continued playing, but it was only now that I saw the chakra of the bugs, which were extremely close to me. If I had been a second later, I would have been a goner. _Thank you, Gai._ I looked around, but didn't notice him in the stands. He was probably looking after Lee in the hospital.

I turned to Genma. "I could keep this up for hours; he's not going anywhere."

He nodded. "The winner is Tsunagi, Ai."

I released Shino from my genjutsu and he called off his bugs. We shook hands and it was over with. I would have to make it up to Gai somehow.

I looked around the stadium and there wasn't any cheering or clapping. Only hushed whispers. Because of my excellent hearing, I could pick up bits and pieces of what people were saying.

"One move!"

"Impossible!"

"I've never heard of an Aburame being defeated in one move."

"Where is she from?"

"I don't see a forehead protector."

It was all people could talk about and I had a feeling that I had just made a big mistake. There was still a bounty on my head - and I had just drawn a lot of unwanted attention to myself.

* * *

"Hokage-sama. You're lucky to have such a talented shinobi at your disposal. Is she from Konoha, originally. Or is she from Suna, the roots of all the Tsunagi clan?"

"Suna." The Third Hokage looked on at Ai Tsunagi with more suspicion than ever. Hadn't she said that she had worked under the Kazekage? One of them was lying and he was willing to place his bet on her.

"A little curt there. But of course I understand why you wouldn't want a Tsunagi in Konoha. Try as we might, we can't seem to eradicate them. They're dangerous and were far too powerful a clan for their own good."

The Hokage nodded. He had a feeling that Ai had not even begun to show the immense power behind her genjutsu.


	17. Chapter 17

I knew that if I wasn't injured, I was supposed to watch the rest of the battles, but my heart simply wasn't in it, knowing that my last chance at freedom had been eradicated, because now, I was trusted even less than when I first arrived. Walking outside the stadium, I ran into Naruto's friend who had been watching me bathe.

"You again," I growled.

He looked nervous, but tried to play it off. "What brings you here, Tsunagi-san? Shouldn't you be battling it out in the arena?"

"I already won, but I left early because –"

I was suddenly interrupted by a flash of green that I, frankly, wasn't in the mood to ever deal with, nevertheless now. "Tsunagi-san! Why is it I have found you and your un-youthful spirit outside of the arena?"

"Gai, I was just about to explain that to Jiraiya over here." Gai glanced up and, seemingly, noticed Jiraiya for the first time. However, as could be expected with Gai, given his terrible memory and apparent lack of intellect, he had no idea who Jiraiya was. Admittedly, I hadn't recognized his face, but once I heard the name… "I'll admit it's childish, especially for a twenty-six-year-old jonin, but I couldn't watch all the other competitors, knowing they could become jonin of this village, but I could not. Not only am I not allowed to go on missions here anymore, but I'm also not allowed to go home. To be honest, I couldn't take it anymore."

Both men looked sad and confused, but it was Jiraiya who spoke first. "They won't let you do anything because you are somehow connected to Orochimaru?" He sighed. "I wish I could say that this was a breach in protocol, but it's not, kid. Orochimaru is extremely dangerous – I know firsthand. The village shouldn't take any chances. However, I'm on your side. With my connections, I managed to contact members of the interrogation squad; I'm sure you've met Ibiki. He claimed you didn't remember your time with Orochimaru. Not only that, but you were very forthcoming with your information and have been going in regularly to give him whatever new memories manage to surface. I'm sorry, but for the time being, you're just going to have to live with the Hokage's decision."

"I know, but that doesn't make this any easier. I'm very close with a lot of the citizens of Suna, being a citizen myself."

"Don't worry, Tsunagi-san, while you're here, I will work you until you are an expert in taijutsu!" Gai exclaimed.

"That doesn't exactly make me feel any better, Gai." I smiled. "But, I do have you to thank for my victory in the ring. Were it not for your training, I would not have been able to move fast enough." Gai jumped extremely high in the air, showing me what he said to be 'the youthful way to celebrate a youthful victory'. Soon enough, though, his pupil caught up with him, and the two of them headed in the direction of the arena.

Jiraiya placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. Just go home with your ANBU escort and relax a while."

"No. I think I can go back inside, now. I just needed some fresh air." I reentered the competitor's area and looked over at Hokage and Kazekage, wondering what they were talking about. Something was off. I stared at the Kazekage's chakra and flinched when I realized that it wasn't the same chakra I remembered from eight years ago – I never forgot a chakra. I stared, desperately trying to see past the fake Kazekage's façade and see his real chakra. The harder I stared at him, the more his chakra began to morph into that of Orochimaru's.

As much as I disliked the geezer, it probably wouldn't help my chances if I let Orochimaru kill him. I glanced down at the battle between Gaara and Sasuke, secretly happy that I would be interrupting the battle between them, preventing them from further injuring each other. "Hokage-sama! It's Orochimaru!"

As soon as the words were uttered, everybody in the stadium began to look sleepy; it was a genjutsu that I was thankfully immune to because of my Tsunagi bloodline. Looking around the area, I noticed that among the ninjas that had released themselves from the admittedly weak genjutsu was Kakashi. I ran over to him as fast as I could. "Kakashi, Orochimaru has the Hokage."

"Are you sure?"

"He surrounded himself with a genjutsu, but I saw through it and managed to get a peek at his chakra. I'm sure it's Orochimaru." As we were speaking, I saw Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari slip away, while Baki prepared to fight the proctor. I wished that I had had a little more time before the oto-nin came in a wave upon us, but immediately they knew how to dispatch me. A few kunai came out of nowhere, pinning my hands against a wall, and leaving me completely vulnerable to Kabuto.

"Hello, Tsunagi-sama. Or, at least, I hope I will be calling you back in the near future. First, before I make the offer, I need to completely disarm you." He walked up to me and began talking as he made a careful incision along my neck, careful not to hit the jugular. "I've never cut a person's vocal cords before, so forgive me if I'm a little slow. Orochimaru-sama would like to make you and offer. He wants you to come with him. He realizes that you may not be so inclined, but he is willing to offer you some things in return for your services. First, he promises to restore your memories. Second, he can reverse the immortality jutsu activated by the Akatsuki. Finally, he says that if you want, he is willing to train you in taijutsu and give you some ancient Tsunagi techniques you were once too young to learn. What –"

He was suddenly cut off by Kakashi's kunai before he was able to cut my vocal cords. "Step away, Kabuto," he said threateningly. By this time, Gai was painfully pulling out the kunai stuck in my hands. Kabuto knew when he was outmatched so he ran to fight other, weaker shinobi. I ripped strips out of my red tunic and tied them around my hands and throat. Kabuto was good with the scalpel, I would give him that. My throat was barely bleeding. "Kakashi," I whispered. I had heard the entire conversation between him and Sakura, despite the distance between us. "You can't send kids after Gaara, especially the ones who don't know genjutsu."

"His chakra was strange, but I think my kids can handle it."

"You don't understand, Kakashi, Gaara is a jinchuriki." Kakashi's eye widened and his eyebrow went up as a faintly audible gasp escaped. "I have to choose, now, between the Hokage, and your students. I could put them under a genjutsu long enough for that wall surrounding them to dissipate. Or, I can go and incapacitate Gaara."

"What do you think you should do?"

"I'm not a jonin here; I'm not even a guest. Look, it's best for everyone if I follow your orders, so people don't think I was in on this. Nobody here trusts me, so I'm going to follow your orders."

"I trust you," said Kakashi.

"I trust you," said Gai.

I sighed. "I think the Hokage can take care of himself for the time being, given how powerful he is. Gaara is more than capable of destroying an entire city if he wants – assuming he manages to attain his complete jinchuriki form. Those children, when Sasuke catches up with Gaara, would be doomed."

"Naruto is a jinchuriki," Kakashi told me. I didn't meet his gaze. "But, I still think you should go with the kids."

"Okay, but first." I glanced at Gai. "I need some transportation. I would never catch up with them, otherwise. Especially with this blood loss, even though it isn't in any way fatal, for the time being. Before we catch up with the kids, though, there's another old friend that I need to have a chat with. Gai, take me to Baki."

* * *

I soon as Gai placed me on the ground near Baki's battle, I played a couple notes, freezing all the shinobi involved in their tracks. "Baki, it's nice to see you, again," I greeted him. "Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. I think the Kazekage is dead." His eyes told me he didn't believe me. "I don't have any proof of his death, but I do know that he isn't here – Orochimaru has taken his place. Please trust me. Stop fighting the local shinobi and help them out instead." I released them all with a chord, and carefully gauged their reactions.

"How do I know you aren't lying?"

"Go look at the Hokage if you don't believe me, but I can't waste all of my time here. I have to go control Gaara. I may be living here, and I may have friends here, but know that I am still loyal to shinobi of Suna, or at the very least, old friends such as yourself."

He looked me up and down then gave the faintest of smiles. "It appears that you are as unchanged inside as you are on the outside, Ai. I'll help the konoha shinobi."

"Thank you."

Gai continued to carry me – piggyback-style – through the forest, trying to find any trace of the kids. Then, I heard a commotion from a few miles away, and I knew what it was instantly. I gave Gai the directions and we found ourselves right in between Gaara and a giant toad. "Take me up to Naruto," I instructed Gai. Once we were on top of the frog I couldn't help but say, "Shit, I've never seen him completely transform before, at least I never let him." I turned to the blonde jinchuriki. "Naruto, stay out of this." I began painstakingly playing a harmonious and extremely complicated melody on my violin in an attempt to control and soothe Gaara as best I could. Slowly, very slowly, he began to morph back into the form of the boy who I no longer knew. I needed Gai to take me down to Gaara, but employing so many jutsus at one time was not only extremely difficult when it came to musical technique, but it also drained my chakra all the faster.

I had complete control over Gai, and giving him the freedom to take me down of his own free will would mean undoing my other genjutsus. "I'm sorry, Gai." I began to add another rhythm variation to my already complicated jutsu. The hypnotized Gai took me down to Gaara, and I tentatively released him from my jutsu. He was understandably exhausted.

"Gaara, you're bleeding." I wanted to cry, seeing one of the few people I cared about in the entire world in pain. "I'm so sorry. I'm Ai, and we used to be friends." He didn't look like he would attack me so I pulled him into a hug. "You're not so little anymore, and you'll probably be taller than me soon, so maybe, from now on I'll just call you my tanuki instead of my little tanuki." Knowing what this boy had gone through, I decided I wouldn't have Baki give Gaara his memories back. It was better that we have a completely fresh start, as if we were strangers.

"You want to be friends with me? I'm a monster." He glared at her a little.

"No you're not, Gaara. You are a kid with a monster inside of you." I looked at Naruto, remembering that he was a jinchuriki. "I think you need to have a long chat with Naruto because, as it turns out, you two are a lot alike. But first, you kids need some medical attention. Gai, take Sasuke and Sakura back to the village for help." I stared at Pakkun. "Pakkun, can the ninja hounds take the rest of us back?" He nodded. "Okay, go get them then." I had Gaara and Naruto taken someplace private to talk – knowing Naruto, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

_I _was taken to where Orochimaru was, hoping to be of some help. When I got there, though, it turned out to be the deathplace of the Hokage. I was too late.

* * *

I lay in the hospital, running my fingers over the stitches along my throat and hands, watching the blood transfusion flow into me, when Kakashi came in.

"What's going to happen, now?" I asked.

He shrugged. "There's a lot of confusion right now. We need to find a new Hokage, and there's a couple people in mind right now. We're working on negotiations with Suna, and given the fact that they'll be getting a new Kazekage soon, we can't know for sure how they're going to go. But, most shinobi seem more than willing to cooperate. I suppose that's not quite what you were wondering."

"I'm curious about the politics, yes, but I'm far more interested in my own fate."

"There's been a short hearing, and thanks to some glowing testimonials from some of us jonin, they've determined that you weren't working with Orochimaru. However, you were still at one point a member of the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki, so they aren't going to let you go home until we recover the memories."

"I suppose I shouldn't have expected any different."

"I _did_ manage to convince them to do one other thing in your favor…" I raised an eyebrow. "You no longer have an ANBU escort."

I smiled. "Thank you, Kakashi."

LINE

I returned to my apartment, dreading the next undoubtedly grueling months of attempts to recover my memory. When I stepped in, I noticed something that wasn't there before: my completely restored violin. I couldn't tell by the look of it nor by the sound of it that it had ever been damaged. It came with a note which I wrongly assumed was from Kakashi.

_Dearest Ai,_

_I'm so sorry that your heart-to-heart with Kabuto was cut short. Rest assured, I have not withdrawn my deal with you. You and Sasuke both have been given wonderful offers that other ninja would kill for. I beg you to keep this in mind as you make your decision. I decided to give you your repaired violin as an act of good faith, as well as an apology from Kabuto. He is truly sorry for destroying it, and he personally promises that it won't happen again._

_Until next time,_

_Orochimaru_

I guessed it I had been a fool to hope he would leave me alone. However, I now had to ask myself: should I actually consider this deal? It was awfully tempting, given my treatment in Konoha.


	18. Chapter 18

The morning of the Hokage's funeral, I received two very unexpected visits: one from Baki and one from Kakashi.

Baki arrived extremely early; in fact, he was banging on my door at four in the morning which is one of the most ungodly hours possible. When I answered the door, my long, tangled blonde hair was in my face and my eyes undoubtedly had a very dull look to them. "Baki?" I asked. It was far too early for me to express how happy I actually was that he had taken the time to see me.

"Ai, it's good to see you. May I come in?"

I gestured him in and we took a seat at my table, with a small cup of tea and a huge cup of coffee. You can imagine which of us had which drink. Once I had a little caffeine in my system I managed to properly greet him. "It's good to see you, Baki. Did I tell you that I had retrieved all of my memories up until the day of my disappearance?"

"No." He stared down at his tea a moment. "At the hearing, I told them all about the day you disappeared." I raised my eyebrows. "Unsurprisingly, they didn't put much stock in what I said. After all, I am a shinobi from a rival village who killed a very popular shinobi here, Hayate. I'm sorry that I could not have done more, Ai."

I nodded. "I think my future was set in stone once the third Hokage learned that I had connections to Orochimaru and the Akatsuki." Once again, we plunged into an awkward silence. Baki and I had never been especially close, but now I felt like he was one of my closest friends in the world. "Baki, could you tell me about the day I disappeared?"

He nodded slowly. "I remember that you were given a simple B-rank mission that you should have easily accomplished. Gaara was in tears because this was the first time you had left him since you had first been assigned as his caretaker. That day, you told him you would be back soon, and I know for a fact that you would not have lied to Gaara; you cared about him too much. When you were not back on time, the Kazekage became extremely uneasy. You were the only person in Suna who could possibly control Gaara, and if he realized you were missing he would destroy the city. We searched the areas surrounding the village and about 30 miles away we found your blood stained in the sand, your headband, and your crushed violin. Some believed that you had left, but even assuming that you cared nothing for Gaara, I knew that you would never leave behind your violin. There is no doubt in my mind that you were kidnapped against your will, and your immortality jutsu was activated shortly thereafter."

"Thank you for everything, Baki."

He nodded and then glanced at the clock. "We need to be going soon. I'm sorry that you can't come with us or pay your respects to the Kazekage."

We shook hands as he headed out the door and I fell into a state of despair. I would most certainly be trapped here until at least the new Hokage took over, probably longer. I decided that I should probably start getting ready for the funeral, despite it being only 4:30 in the morning. It was fortunate for me that I chose to do this because the moment I was ready, there was a knock at my door.

When I answered it, I was surprised to see Kakashi was completely ready for the funeral as well. "Good morning, Kakashi."

"Good morning, Ai. Would you care to walk with me?" I nodded, and he took me with him to pay his respects to Obito and Rin. We stood in the rain for a long time, as silent as the people being honored.

"I'm surprised that you decided to attend the funeral at all, to be quite honest," he told me.

"Well, to be quite honest, I have ulterior motives. I'm attending so that I will look less like a criminal and more like an average shinobi who simply got sucked into an unfortunate situation. Right now, I would rather be at the Kazekage's funeral."

"I thought he was the one who ordered the bounty on your clan's head. Why would you want to pay your respects to him?"

"He gave me Gaara. By the way, after the funeral today, I am doing everything it takes to get out of here. I've made a lot of good friends here in Konoha and I'm happy that there are so many people here to help me, but from now on, I think I need to help myself. Today I continue my taijutsu training on my own. After that I will go to Ibiki to try and recover my memories. I am sick and tired of being at the mercy of everything around me. I don't want anyone's pity or help anymore."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I will be celebrating my ninth consecutive eighteenth birthday in a few months, I've wasted eight years of my life, I'm stuck in a city I don't belong in and this morning I realized that I gave up a long time ago and started letting everything around me go to shit. I need to start playing a more active role in my own life."

The funeral was a quiet and somber affair, which I was grateful for. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, and as soon as it was over, I made good on my promise. I began practicing my taijutsu in the mud.

* * *

A couple of days later, I stopped by a little shop for some tea and I ran into Kakashi. "Don't tell me you're following me."

"No, I'm waiting for Sasuke."

I raised a dubious eyebrow. "That's rare."

"That's just what we were thinking." Kakashi and I turned to see Asuma and Kurenai coming towards us.

When Sasuke joined us, I was about ready to leave when I glanced curiously at the shop. There had been two chakras there that weren't there now. Not only that, but those two chakras had seemed eerily familiar. It gave me the same strange sensation that I experience when I first saw Orochimaru here in Konoha. They were Akatsuki, and I was starting to get a terrible headache.

We meet up with the rogue ninjas just outside the village, and admittedly I once again had ulterior motives for fighting them. "Ah, Tsunagi-san, it hasn't been that long and we're already seeing each other again? I must say that I'm surprised." He lifted his hat just enough so that everyone could see his eyes. He was clearly Uchiha and given that he wasn't Sasuke, I knew that he must be Itachi.

"Sorry, Ai, but we've got to cut the chit chat. I know how much you must want a reunion, with me especially," said the taller one with a smirk.

"Given your blank expression, I suppose I wouldn't be wrong in assuming that your memories of the Akatsuki are still sealed. Not for long, though." He sighed, exasperated. "I was hoping this wouldn't have to be a double mission."

"Double mission?" I asked.

"We are here for Naruto." At this, Kakashi pulled up his headband.

"They want to Kyubi," Kakashi growled.

It hit me then that they may want all of the demons: one through nine. If this was the case, then they would probably want Gaara at some point. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he were the first one to die because they needed Shukaku. I needed to stop this at all costs. Just because the Kazekage was dead, did not mean that my role as Gaara's protector had ended.

"Kisame, take out Kakashi," Itachi ordered. "They all need to disappear. I also think it would be wise to seal Tsunagi-san's memories permanently. She's too dangerous."

For the slightest instant, the taller one looked like he didn't want to follow Itachi's orders, but he quickly got over his moment of doubt and came at us, only to be intercepted by my jutsu. That gave me enough time to use my genjutsu. My newly repaired violin came out, my fingers dancing on the fingerboard in an effort to save my fellow jonin. There were only two others within the vicinity who were immune: Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi.

That is, if Kakashi got his ass out from hiding and helped me.

"Tsunagi-san, we both know how this is going to end. I commend your excellent genjutsu, but there is simply no way that you can outmaneuver me. You are weak; there's nothing that you can do about. You simply had the bad luck of being born into a clan that was weaker than the Uchiha clan."

"Try me." I had something new that I had been working on that Itachi wouldn't expect. I made every single ounce of chakra I had run to my legs so that I might be a match for Itachi. We fought like that for a few moments before he finally caught on.

"Tsunagi-san, using chakra for taijutsu is cheating. However, you would not be able to do this unless you had increased your taijutsu ability. It appears that the Tsunagi clan has finally caught on. Perhaps one day you will overcome the Uchiha clan, but that day is not today."

He moved even more quickly than before and threw my body against a tree trunk. In an instant, before I could even move he was standing above me slamming his feet on my legs, effectively giving the bones a compound fracture. I moaned in agony. "I will give you another thing, Tsunagi-san, I am quite impressed that you have been able to keep playing your violin for this long."

"Leave her alone, Itachi."

Kakashi had finally come, but he was too late – more importantly not a match for Itachi. "Kakashi you need to leave. You will do nothing but get yourself hurt."

"You can't hold on much longer, Ai," he argued.

"You're both right," Itachi announced. In an instant, Itachi had Kakashi trapped in Itachi's genjutsu. Itachi turned to face me. "Now that we're alone, Tsunagi-san, I have a favor to ask of you."

"You want a favor from me?"

"Not really a favor, but a deal. I can get you out of Konoha."

"I'm assuming that this isn't legal, and for your information, I don't make deals with criminals."

"Cut the high and mighty façade, Tsunagi. We both know that you have done some things that you aren't proud of. Besides, this is completely legal. All I ask is that you prevent Sasuke from joining Orochimaru, and in return, I will give you some memories from your time with Akatsuki."

"I don't think I can prevent Sasuke from joining Orochimaru."

"It very well may be that no one can. But there are only two people who might be able to do it: yourself and Naruto-san. That is why I must let him go for today If I am to be completely honest, I don't know if I like putting all my faith in that raman-eating phsycho.. Besides, he is with Jiraiya. All I am asking of you is that you try. I believe you're familiar with _trying._"

I glared at him, but accepted. "Fine, I can try, but I make no promises."

He gave me a peaceful smile. "Thank you Tsunagi-san." He touched my forehead and I was accosted one again with the familiar sensation of being flooded with memories. With that, Kakashi was released from Itachi's genjutsu and everyone else was released from mine. "Kisame, we're leaving," Itachi barked, gave a seemingly important nod to Kisame.

"See you soon, Ai," Kisame told me just as he gave me a long kiss on the mouth, much to my utter surprise. "Bye."

I didn't know if it was because of the new memories or the fact that Kisame had just kissed me on the mouth or the fact that my chakra was low, but I felt really tired. I blacked out.


	19. Chapter 19

Waking up alone in a hospital room was not the first thing on my list of to-dos nor did it exist anywhere on my list. However, despite my best efforts to stay out of the hospital for a long period of time, here I was again. There was one improvement though; at least this time I wasn't handcuffed to the bed or being guarded by ANBU.

This time was infinitely different, though. I had almost all of my memories back, including many of them from when I was living with the Akatsuki. Hopefully, I could convince the new Hokage, whoever they ended up being, that I was not a threat to Konoha.

Just as I was pondering over my chances of getting out of Konoha, Ibiki walked in and we began our regular routine. He asked me how I was and I politely replied as he prepped to invade my mind, as usual. As expected, this time was different. The memories came easily, but there was a recurring issue: none of my memories actually revealed any important information, especially regarding any of the Akatsuki's plans. All the memories showed were the personalities and occasionally the powers of the other members. The piece de resistance was the first memory, though. It was the memory from the day I was kidnapped and showed my innocence in the entire Akatsuki matter. Ibiki would know that there were bits and pieces missing – Itachi was not sloppy – but it could possibly be enough information to get me home.

Ibiki stared long and hard at me after the session, as if trying to figure me out. "Ai, how did you get all of this information? It was all sealed."

"I ran into Itachi and Kisame. Whenever I've run into the people from my sealed memories, the memories resurface. Itachi was careful, though. I don't have any memories of their missions or their intentions." Ibiki's face fell again and I sighed, deciding not to keep any secrets anymore. "I may not have gotten any information from my memories, but I have reason to believe that the Akatsuki is after the Jinchuriki." He looked a little incredulous, so I decided to explain further. "I don't know why they would want them, but Itachi said they wanted Naruto. If they want the Jinchuriki, then they'll have to take them in order."

"And how exactly do you know this?"

"I'm something of an expert on Jinchuriki. Especially Shukaku." He raised his eyebrow questioningly. "I was in charge of keeping the one-tail under control."

"Should you be telling me this?"

"It's not exactly classified information. Everyone in Suna knew I was in charge of the one-tail. I'm concerned about Naruto and I don't think he should be allowed anywhere near the Akatsuki. Where is he now?"

"He, Sasuke, and Jiraiya all went after Itachi, but when they failed to capture them, Naruto and Jiraiya both went looking for the new Hokage."

"New Hokage? Who is it?"

"I don't know; I suppose it's privileged information, but I think if they don't accept the position, then it may end up being Jiraiya."

I blanched, remembering my first run in with the pervert. "I desperately hope that the other candidate accepts."

"In all honestly," Ibiki confessed, "so do I."

* * *

I was making dinner at my ANBU free apartment when Kakashi dropped by. Surprisingly, he was actually on time and he brought food, rather than mooching off of me. "Were you spying on me?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied honestly. "I wanted to make sure that I was right on time for dinner. I brought some dango." He roughly handed me the plate. "What's for dinner?"

As dinner was drawing to a close, Kakashi finally got to the point. "What happened after Itachi put me under?" he asked.

"Nothing happened. He put me under as well."

"I know that much, but I was very suspicious when Ibiki informed me that you had recovered most of your memories from your time with the Akatsuki."

"I would hardly call it most of my memories. I recovered a few that revealed some identities of various members. It's hardly a gold mine. The only information about possible activities of theirs is what I had already ascertained. Such as their preoccupation with the Jinchuriki."

"You're playing something, Ai, and I don't like it."

"Why would I ally myself with the people who kidnapped me, forced me to join their organization, erased all my memories, and dumped me outside a foreign town?"

"Ever since the end of the chunin exams, you haven't been yourself. I wish you would be more forthcoming with everything that's been happening."

"I'm handling everything that's come at me since the exams. I've also been rather preoccupied with what we're going to do with Sasuke. Don't forget I've recovered almost all of my memories of Orochimaru and he will never give up. I'm worried that Sasuke will accept. Orochimaru can offer some pretty tempting deals and he knows how to manipulate people just right so that they have no choice but to follow him."

My eyes probably clouded over a little as I remembered my cumulative experiences with the snake-like man. I had never met a person capable of creating quite the same rainbow of emotions that he invoked in me: guilt, rage, sympathy, admiration, friendship, sadness and grief, plus an emotion even verging on love. It was insane, but powerful and addictive and difficult to resist.

"He's made you an offer?" Kakashi guessed. I nodded silently and it was followed by a long exhausted sigh coming from Kakashi. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Oh please, Kakashi, we're the same age and we are not that old."

"I feel old."

"It's only the nature and magnitude of our situation. I can guarantee that Sasuke has been given a deal every bit as tempting as mine and I doubt he will be able to resist."

"And how were you able to resist, Ai?"

"Well, it doesn't hurt that I've recovered other memories of previous deals between Orochimaru and I." He raised a curious eyebrow. "One ended in his escape from the Akatsuki and my terrible punishments for helping escape, although I had thought the plan was to escape together."

"Up until your memories returned you planned to help Orochimaru?" His voice began to rise and sound almost angry.

"I hadn't planned on it, but I considered it. What else was I supposed to do? I was stuck. Now I've found my way out. The memories may be able to get me home, Kakashi. There are people there who need me."

"There are people who need you here, too, Ai. Sasuke, Naruto, plenty of others."

"All of those people have family and friends to look after them but all I know is that right now Gaara has attended his own father's funeral with his siblings who have been afraid of him and treated him like a freak his whole life. Gaara has no one. So I want you to answer my next question honestly: do you think I stand any chance at leaving once the new Hokage is appointed?"

"Well, as you probably have already heard there are currently two candidates being considered. If Jiraiya end up being Hokage, in all likelihood you will be allowed to leave without a fuss. He trusts you. Tsunade is the other candidate and she is an entirely different matter. In fact, if what I know about her is true, you could end up even more restricted that you are now."

"I suppose I stan-corrected earlier when I said I would rather not have Jiraiya as the next Hokage."

"You might still be able to leave if Tsunade is Hokage, but you have to prove yourself to her. That would be quite the task."

I began silently cleaning up the plates, carefully and methodically, as if it could piece back together my life.

"I just wish I knew whose side you were on."

I turned to the masked man and gave him one of the first completely honest answers I had given him all night. "I'm not on anybody's side. I just want to get home and I'm willing to do almost anything in order to accomplish this."

* * *

That night, after I had had a long shower that had been intended to be relaxing, I walked slowly into my room intent on collapsing into my bed and falling into a fitful sleep plagued by all of my stress. But once I entered my one of my stresses became considerably larger than I had originally anticipated. Lying on my pillow was a letter written in the same spidery scrawl that had written the last letter as well. I almost didn't dare to touch it, for fear that once I did, he would somehow jump out at me.

It read:

Dearest Ai,

I have become impatient for an answer from you, but rest assured, soon enough we will meet again and you can give me your answer then. Until then, I sincerely hope that you make the right decision and remind you of all that is at stake. I believe that Sasuke will make the right decision, but he's no wild card. You are, though, and so I offer you one last thing: your choice of any companion you wish. I understand that my location is a little isolated and you may find yourself wanting some 'company'. I know that I've had to give into those urges on more than one occasion. Anyway, the way I see it, it's just the icing on the cake. I look forward to hearing your response.

Sincerely,

Orochimaru

All I knew was that I had to prevent Sasuke from throwing his life away with Orochimaru and from the sounds of the letter Orochimaru had a little more than training in mind for Sasuke. (I could only imagine what Kabuto had to endure.) I would talk to Sasuke the next day.


	20. Chapter 20

**Kakashi**

It had been a very difficult day for Kakashi; the type of day that made a person want to collapse in their bed, fall instantly asleep, and then never wake up. Sasuke was gone and seemingly gone for good, Naruto had left with Jiraiya, and Sakura was now going to train under Tsunade. His students didn't need him anymore and every single situation he had encountered lately made him feel weak and useless.

The most pressing issue at the moment, though, was the whereabouts of Tsunagi Ai. She had not been seen by anyone in Konohagakure in three days and it was assumed that she had left with Sasuke for an apprenticeship with Orochimaru. However, there was a tiny, nagging feeling inside of Kakashi that screamed for this not to be true. He hadn't dared yet to stop by her apartment – nobody had – perhaps in some small hope that she had somehow been there for the past three days. He simply could not let go of their conversation only four days ago when she said that she intended to turn down Orochimaru's offer. Sasuke had left a little over twenty-four hours since this conversation had taken place. Could she have changed her mind so quickly? For some reason, Kakashi found this dubious.

Just as Kakashi was about to go home and sleep until the next morning, he ran into Tsunade herself and, unsurprisingly, she had the single task for him that he didn't want to complete.

"Kakashi, I understand that there is a lot at stake for you, in answering the question of Tsunagi Ai's whereabouts, but I need you to help us. You, out of all the jonin here, knew her the best, and I think would have the greatest chance at finding her."

"Is it even worth it?" he asked. "If she left with Orochimaru – or without him – then she would be long gone by now, and she would not have left a trail."

Tsunade's face hardened. "So you really believe she left with him, then? Did she give you any indications that she might have been given an offer?"

Kakashi gave a long, mournful sigh and began what he hoped was an excuse out of the assignment. "She and I had dinner the night before she left and she indicated that she _had_ received an offer from Orochimaru and possibly been in communication with him. However, she said that she wasn't interested and had found another way to leave Konoha. She seemed to be under the impression that her newly recovered memories would allow her to do this, and all she could talk about was leaving Konoha." He strained to remember other snippets of their conversation. "He mentioned that she had had deals in the past with Orochimaru that went sour and she had changed her mind. Up until that point she had considered the deal only to leave Konoha. I honestly have no idea what her intentions were – she was incredibly secretive – but I somehow cannot find it in me to believe she is guilty. She has, since the moment she came to Konoha, insisted that she hadn't joined the Akatsuki of her own free will, and I still believe that to be true."

Tsunade gave an angry huff. "Jiraiya gave a similar testament to her character, as have many other ANBU, jonin, chunin, and even genin throughout the village. They all say that she is sincere. However, I don't trust her and I want you to scour her apartment until you find evidence as to where she went."

Kakashi slumped as he went to Ai's Apartment, staring at the door for ten minutes before finally deciding to open it. To his surprise, it was already open. The hairs on his neck stood up as he carefully padded into her apartment, expecting it to be booby-trapped. He didn't see any signs that the apartment had been occupied until he reached the bathroom. He peered inside and saw that the mirror was broken, with cracked dried blood traveling down it into the sink. The trail of blood continued into the living room where there was an enormous pool of blood on the floor which eventually led to the couch, where Ai lay.

She was alive, but barely, her tiny chest slowly rising and falling. Her eyes were open, but she appeared to be in a sort of catatonic state. "Ai," he shouted, running to her. While it hurt him to see her in such a state, he felt relief beyond compare, realizing that she had not joined Orochimaru.

When she didn't respond, however, he began to panic slightly. He began shaking her body and lightly tapping his hand against her face. Lifting his headband to use his sharingan he saw that her chakra wasn't disturbed, so what could possibly be wrong? She had glass shards in her hands, but most of the blood in the room didn't appear to be hers. He continued to scan the room, as he desperately tried to get her to wake up. Eventually, her body flinched and she appeared to have come back to reality.

"Kakashi," she whispered. "Sasuke's gone."

"I know, Ai." His eyebrows knit together. "Sasuke left days ago."

"I guess I've been here since then." Her voice sounded hollow and weak and Kakashi remembered that she hadn't had anything to drink in days. He hurried to her kitchen and made her choke down some water before they continued talking.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked. "I need to write it all up in a report. Many people thought you had left with Sasuke."

"I told you that I wouldn't go with Orochimaru."

"I know. I'm sorry." His response, to him, sounded weak and far too simple for the magnitude of the offense, but it didn't seem to bother Ai. Her eyes were clouded over in thought, and her hands were limp in his as he methodically began picking out the shards of mirror. It wasn't until now that he saw the bloody gash on her head that had shards of mirror and blood in it as well. This would take a while. "You can begin your story whenever you're comfortable."

She sighed, and began the testimony.

**Ai: Three days earlier**

I had to get to Sasuke before he made the single biggest mistake of his life. Orochimaru was not a patient man so when he said that he would be fetching us soon, which probably meant a period of 48 hours at most. I couldn't imagine a greater nightmare. As luck would have it, I caught Sasuke before he went for his morning practice.

"Sasuke, I need to speak with you." He was alone, as usual, so there wasn't a group of moronic genin to get in my way.

"Sure," he answered coolly as he strolled over to me. "What is it you want, Tsunagi-san?"

"You know. We've both been receiving correspondence from Orochimaru, and I need to know what your answer is."

"I don't see as it's any of your business." He was defensive, so I rightfully assumed the worst.

"Why on earth could you possibly want to join with him? Trust me from my experiences with him that he is not the type of person to ally yourself with."

"He can give me what a need." I raised a dubious eyebrow. "There is nothing you can do to change my mind, Tsunagi," he huffed and he quickly left, faster than I could go, refraining me from following him.

I returned to my apartment later that night to find a note from Orochimaru telling me to leave my apartment tonight, and giving details as to where to meet him. I realized that this was my final opportunity to sway Sasuke so I ran as quickly as I could from my apartment to the gates of Konoha. There, I found him talking to Sakura, and she was in tears.

They undoubtedly heard my heavy breathing from quite a distance. After all, I'm still not in fantastic shape. Once I had caught my breath, and while their attention was still on me, I turned to Sakura. "Leave. There is nothing more you can do." Now my eyes wandered to Sasuke, and his eyes hardened, daring me to prevent his escape.

"Tsunagi-san," Sakura gushed, "Are you going to stop Sasuke from leaving?"

"Hopefully," I deadpanned. "Now go."

As the pink-haired nuisance left, Sasuke's full attention was on me. "What now, Tsunagi-san? Are you going to detain me until Sakura comes back with reinforcements?" he mocked.

My eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to force you to do anything Sasuke, but I urge you to think this through. I know that it is your life's goal to kill your brother, and I am telling you now that that path leads to nothing. It isn't worth it."

His eyes widened in rage. "And what would you know?"

"I watched as my parents were murdered by my own first cousin. I was eight when they died and he not only escaped, but was given money for his efforts. After living alone in various nations for two years, I wanted nothing more than for him to vanish off the face of the earth. It wasn't easy to find him, because by that time most clan members who were still alive were well hidden, but I managed somehow to do it. It was no difficult feat, killing him. I was a prodigy and the only thing that had prevent me from doing it two years earlier was my own fear.

"I don't know what I expected to feel after I killed him, but it wasn't what I received. Instead of feeling victorious, righteous, or fulfilled as I had hoped, I only felt emptiness, sadness, and most of all regret. Revenge is not the path to happiness, Sasuke. I am not saying this because I am self-righteous, or a good person, or because I believe you are wrong in your anger. I am saying this because I _know_, and I want to prevent you from making the exact same mistakes that I did."

Sasuke paused for a moment, letting my words sink into him, but apparently they didn't sink in enough. "It's different for me," he said. "Itachi must pay and I am the only one to do it."

"Do what? Sucessfully wipe out the only other clan member still alive?"

"Are you going to stop me?"

"No, everyone must choose their own path. This is something that I have always believed in and I'm not about to end that belief now. That, and I think Itachi can take care of himself. If you ever want out, find a way to contact me and I will help you."

Sasuke huffed and left.

**Ai: the present**

There was one part of my story that I had to leave out. Kakashi couldn't know that I had seen Itachi that night.

**Ai: three days ago**

"Tsunagi-san, how does it feel to fail?"

I hardened my face before I turned to Uchiha Itachi. "I suppose you have failed as I have, so maybe you could tell me."

We stared at each other impassively for a few moments before Itachi let part of his emotionless façade down. "I didn't expect that Sasuke would listen to anyone, but I had hoped he would listen to you, given your similarities."

"I hope that Sasuke will not have to learn my lesson for himself. Why did you kill your clan anyway? There must have been a reason."

Now, I could almost see a hint of something tender in Itachi's eyes. "I did it for the person I cared about most, and for my village. The Uchiha clan could not continue to exist."

"I'm sorry I failed you."

After this conversation I went back to my apartment and inside my bathroom, I splashed my face with water, trying not to imagine Sasuke's fate. Staring in the mirror at my golden eyes, I felt a rage at my own weakness swelling inside of me, so I punched the mirror with both hands, shattering it. As the blood began to drip down into the sink, I didn't notice the figure sneaking up behind me.

"So you chose to leave me, Ai? I am so disappointed. But if I can't have you, then maybe no one should." Orochimaru smashed my head against the mirror and although I feigned severe disorientation, I pulled out my violin to vent my rage.

Within three quick notes, he was under my spell, under my control, within my power. We slowly walked to the living room where he stood helpless compared to me. I felt his body wanting to tremble as he stared into my pitch black eyes, now performing my expert genjutsu. I began to make him see, hear, and feel the most horrific things I could conjure inside my head, making him feel the pain that I felt at failing Sasuke.

While I was doing this I began muttering darkly. "How could you send that boy, on the road to hell? He deserves better; he has suffered enough." I could almost hear my voice taking on the dark, distorted quality I had Orochimaru hear inside the illusion.

In my anger, the jutsu slipped just slightly and I heard Orochimaru cry out. "Sasuke would have left Konoha with or without me. I didn't make him do anything, I just offered the means to do so."

By now, his ears and eyes were bleeding and one of the arteries in his arm had burst because of the mental strain that I had put on him. I felt both my body and my resolve weaken as I listened to his words. I exerted one more act of power on him. "You will leave Konoha, never bother me again, and then go about your regular business." He obeyed my every word, and I finally released the jutsu.

**Present**

"Are you going to be okay," Kakashi asked.

I nodded. "I hope you understand why I didn't force Sasuke to stay."

"He would have left eventually, if he is as desperate as you say he is." He looked at the clock. "Now that you're all patched up, I'm going to force you to get an IV and eat something. Come on." He forced me onto my feet and to his favorite coffee shop.

**Author's Note: Okay, so I've just got three things to say. 1. I'm sorry for being a terrible updater 2. Just to clear things up, the only thing that Ai omitted was her encounter with Itachi. She did tell Kakashi about Orochimaru. 3. I am kind of at a loss. I'm actually having trouble deciding the romantic direction I want this entire story to go. There are three options and a poll available on my profile. Please vote, for my sake.**


	21. Chapter 21

A number of weeks had passed since Sasuke had left and I had since then been arrested. I stood before a court of sorts, awaiting their decision on what to do with me. This trial had been a fair one – I couldn't deny that much – but I very much doubted that the verdict would be rendered in my favor. Although I had received glowing testimonies from my fellow shinobi, of all ranks, Tsunade still glared at me from across the room. She stood from her desk and began to make a speech. "Ai Tsunagi you are here on multiple charges ranging from desertion to murder to cavorting with a criminal organization and have been found guilty on the charge of cavorting with a criminal organization. Despite the testimonies from yourself and many respected jonin from Konoha, we see no other choice but to find you guilty and hold a sentencing trial next week. Do you understand what I have just told you?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." It hardly mattered. Even though I had been found guilty there was enough doubt to give me a minimal sentence. Even if it weren't a minimal sentence, I would be no older when I got out than now, as I stood before the court.

Just as I was about to be hauled off back to a cell, a note was handed to Tsunade from one of her aides. As she read the text, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. "Tsunagi, I want you in my office immediately."

I felt my pulse rise a little as I was brought into her office. What had that note said which put her on edge? "I have just received a letter from Suna stating that they now have their new Kazekage. In addition, the new Kazekage is traveling here as we speak to negotiate peace terms. One of these terms apparently involved you and they state that they want you intact for when they arrive. It did not specify what they want you for. Any ideas?"

"In all likelihood, the new Kazekage wants to bring me home. As I have stated, I have many connections in Suna."

"Well," she huffed. "As you aren't going to be here much longer, I need to make one thing perfectly clear: you unnerve me, Tsunagi. I can't figure out why you do what you do, or sometimes, even how you do it, and I don't like it."

"Whatever I do, I do it for my own benefit."

"So tell me, why haven't you escaped? Based off all reports, you could have easily left Konoha a long time ago if you so desired."

"I had hoped that by going through legal means, I would not have to go through life as a criminal, again. And just so you know, I am not referring to my time spent with the Akatsuki. I am referring to the Tsunagi genocide. My time with the Akatsuki was more akin to being a prisoner than a criminal."

"You didn't tell us you were corresponding with Orochimaru."

"I thought I could handle it, and the situation was handled as best as it could have been. Sasuke would have left whether you were aware of the correspondence or not. Please believe me when I say that I did not want that path for Sasuke but it was his to choose."

"It doesn't matter what I think anymore. You are about to be sent back to Suna," she replied darkly.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Wasn't I just found guilty?"

"I will do what must be done in order to maintain peace. No matter how much I dislike the price." I could see that it pained her to send me back to Suna, but I couldn't complain about it.

* * *

The new Kazekage arrived the next day and there was a very small meeting between himself and Tsunade, coupled with a few guards. I was present, and it was the first time I saw who the new Kazekage was. "Gaara," I breathed, soaking in every feature on his face as tears pooled in my eyes.

He nodded slowly at me, acknowledging my presence. "Hokage-sama, I have come here to negotiate peace terms. Suna is happy to make peace with Konoha on one very small condition: that you turn over Ai Tsunagi. We agree to all the terms that you have set before us and we believe that ours are reasonable in the effort to maintain peace."

"We agree to your terms."

"Thank you. Tsunagi-san has many things of value for Suna." As this was the end of the negotiations Gaara stood to leave the room, signaling me to follow. We were now walking quickly through the city. "I assume that you have said your goodbyes?" he asked. I nodded. "Good, once we reach Suna, I require something of you."

"Anything."

Once we had reached the outskirts of the city, I found a familiar face waiting for me: Kakashi. "Ai, you didn't say goodbye."

"Because I knew it would be difficult." Kakashi had gone above and beyond anything that could be expected of a friend, and had put up with too much shit to even quantify, and yet here he stood, upset that I hadn't said goodbye. I hugged him for a moment. "Thank you for everything. I would never have gotten this far without your help, as much as it kills me to admit it."

"Good luck, Ai. You are always welcome in Konoha, whether Tsunade likes it or not."

I gave him a very rare genuine smile. "You are always welcome in Suna. I would be the happiest person in the world if you were to someday show up at my door."

Gaara was looking impatient, so Kakashi and I went our separate ways, as agonizing as it was. Unfortunately the way to Suna was long and silent. All Gaara would do is give me an unnerving stare. As we approached Suna, I felt a powerful onslaught of emotion overcome me. It had been almost nine years since I had seen my home, but I had finally done it. I was where I belonged. Finally.

Gaara now turned to me and said, "I am aware that my memories have been sealed and I am asking you to unseal them. I am aware that they are painful and I am aware that many would not like me to know, but you of all people must understand the power of knowing the past." He green eyes were pleading with me and as was always the case, I could not say 'no' to Gaara.

Although I was not the greatest with seals, I believed that I could undo the one on Gaara's memories. Going through all the motions and finally pressing my hand against his head, I felt the seal come off almost like a band-aide being ripped off a wound. I felt his agony as his memories of me came flooding back and he gasped for air as if drowning. He clung to me and I was his life raft during the flood as he collapsed onto the ground. "You're going to be okay, I whispered."

"Ai, it's really you." He was crying now, tears flowing down his face freely in the privacy we were afforded.

I nodded. "I wish that I had never left. And now, I will never leave you again. I promise."

He shook his head quickly, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying moments ago. "We are expected. I'm the Kazekage now and I'm really very busy." He glanced briefly up at me. "Would you be my aide? I'm still one short and I can think of no one more qualified."

"On one condition."

"Name it."

"I need to have access to libraries and information in order to do research on the Tsunagi clan. You are of course aware of our immortality jutsu. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the jutsu was accidentally triggered within myself during the experiments the Akatsuki performed on me. I wish to reverse this, but I don't know how, or if it is even possible."

"It will become top priority once Suna has reestablished itself. I assume you will also want to rebuild your clan, and I have already made some of the proper arrangements: for instance, there is no longer a bounty on your clan. I want Suna, and the entire land of wind, to be different than it was when my father was Kazekage. And I don't want…"

"To be feared," I finished. His green eyes told it all. "I will help with that. You no longer have to worry about staying in control. That's now my job. I'll keep you, and those around you, safe."

"Thank you. And Ai?" he asked. I looked at him to show that I was listening. "I may not have remembered you, but I still feel as if I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, my tanuki." There was only one thing left to fix. Once my jutsu was reversed, everything would be as it should be.


End file.
